Funny how some parents always do their best to tend to their child when they're in pain, while at the same time can be oblivious to the fact that they can be causing far more pain by seemingly innocent actions. As daryljfontaine said, in each panel, Marten is actually saying more and more then just mom. You can almost hear him saying "What the hell are you doing? Dora and I just broke up the day before yesterday!"
However, I do agree with the theory that Veronica is trying to get her son to purge any anger and hostility he might be feeling, albeit in a heavy handed way. Now whether or not it works with Marten remains to be seen, as Marten does seem to have an almost preternatural ability to bottle up what he is feeling, at least until something breaks (i.e. anytime Marten snaps at someone, which we can probably count on one hand at the moment). Then again, parents always know exactly what buttons to press.
This week is going to be very interesting.