Lee Brumby, 19, of Arnside Road, St Leonards, had previously pleaded guilty to affray before Hastings magistrates, and appeared in court on Tuesday to be sentenced.
Mark Kateley, prosecuting, told the court that on the afternoon of April 7 Brum
by called his mother's mobile phone from the house phone to ask her to buy things for him while she was shopping.
The court heard that she was angry that her son had used the landline to call a mobile, and Brumby then went on to verbally abuse her.
When she returned home she found him lying on the sofa watching TV. She turned off the TV to talk to him and he verbally abused and swore at her again.
His stepfather told him to not to talk to his mother like that and Brumby stormed off.
Mr Kateley said: "He then burst into the kitchen and said I'm going to kill you. He walked over to a drawer, got out a kitchen knife, and said to his stepfather, I'm going to burn this house down and slit your throat.
"Thankfully he calmed down and walked off, stabbing the knife in a door."
Mark Glendinning, mitigating, told the court that Brumby had now found somewhere else to live.
He said: "In her victim statement, Mrs Brumby, said, I can't believe that in order to help my son I have to press charges."
Magistrates imposed a three month prison term, suspended for 18 months, during which time he has to undergo aggression replacement training, and pay £60 costs.
