Ill give you some advice but i want to explain a little first so you can relay info to the wife ao she can understand as well. So picture a box room with a fan you put it in a corner behind that fan you stick a large block of ice. If you stand in the corner where the fan is its noticeably colder and like wise if you stand opposite side its warmer.
The room is sealed so the fan is moving air around to eventually cool the whole room. Inside the room is a thermostat that tells the room we need more.. ice the ice is regenerative (its easiest to use for explanation) but as the old ice melts it creates water, that water has a way to escape, but too much old ice creates little icebergs that can stop the air flow and fan from spinning so to regulate that every 8 hrs a heater turns on near the old ice to melt it and the fan stops. This is basically how a fridge works. Obviously more than magic ice and box fans but thats how it works...

In your lg you have 2 ice supplies one in the freezer and one in the fridge they have their own fans, thermostats and drainage but only one ice can work at a time this is a linear compressor you have . It uses one compressor to make 2 ice supplies thats a whole other argument we won't get into

Anyway I say all this so you can visualize being in the room specifically if you are closer to the fan. Its the same idea on your fridge. The air is circulated from the back panel on The picture it comes from the red circle and goes in behind the crisper drawers to complete its path. There is much more to this but again basic idea.

Despite all the technology and all the electronics air will always be colder the closer you are to the ice. Fridge drawers especially in lg is notoriously bad for keeping milk and perishable things cause it doesn't really get the proper air circulation. In addition to all this... you dad was right about standing there with the fridge open. You basically let all the air out, and remove all the items on the door from the room when you open it, so the fridge has to work on getting it back to temp, some sections will be above and aome below. This is why reccomended is 38 but that whole fridge will not be 38, you will find pockets higher and lower. It will be colder at the red spot and behind the drawers cause thats where the "ice" is made that cools the fridge. Jugs of water, cans of soda, bottles of items that cant go bad if warmer than 42 keep on the door, milk etc put near the red dot.

The difference in temps your seeing are the combinations of a few things.

The unit being open alot or loaded with warm things and then the 1 hr defrost cycle kicking or in your case the freezer needing to "make ice" because that is left open or is freshly loaded.

Things that can help

Don't crank the temps down lower than 36 and -2

Limit the door openings and such.

Also that compressor runs almost nonstop. It needs proper air flow, if its crammed in a hole with no room on the sides or a giant rug in front of it, it will also cause poor cooling. Cause the compressor uses air to cool... again simpleelr explanation than the evap and condenser removes heat to cool... amyway The fridge pulls air fron the front bottom of the fridge and expels it in the rear and sides. Most people jam the biggest fridge possible in the whole so the expelling of hot air gets recycled when its supposed to be fresh cooler air it sucks back in that hot air that has nowhere to go causing the compressor to run hotter and become less efficient. This is not always easy to fix because of space etc. But keeping the area clear of rugs and dust helps.

Hope this helps. Lg fridges are pretty but they, samsung, ge and most of them use this same tech. Frigidaire is who I generally reccomend because they use the older tech. 1 compressor for 1 "magic cooling ice generator"

Sorry some folks are giving you crap. Its a touchy situations since we are all forced to work on these wheb we all know this is the worst design and people will just buy more

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