"You're lucky that's all I'm going to f***ing do," Cody Amer told his mother after slapping her in the face during an argument.
Later, as she fled the house in fear, Amer called out she "better run" because he was going to slit her throat.
Amer, 24, appeared in the Whanganui District Court on Tuesday, where he told Judge Philip Crayton he had sorted things out with his family and they were all "getting along".
At the time of the offending on July 17, he and his girlfriend and child lived with his parents in a rural Whanganui home.
He and his father began arguing about the living arrangements, and when the argument ended, Amer's mother went to the bedroom to pack belongings to leave for the night.