Partner and I disagree over consequences for poor behaviour for my step daughter. She is 7 years old. I am worried that by not implementing appropriate consequences consistently that she will not learn resilience or how to behave appropriately. She is a normal 7 year old, largely pretty well behaved, polite etc.
As an example, we are on holiday at the moment. She has bitten the mouth piece of
her snorkel tube off (deliberately and in front of me) so that it now no longer fits in her mouth. Partner tried to fix it for her but won’t work. I said that unfortunately that is what happens when you break something and that she would have to make do for the rest of the day (approx 2 hrs of the afternoon left). Partner wanted to replace it so she didn’t miss out. I pushed the situation and she went off with mask (but without snorkel tube) with her friend and made it work for herself.
He said that I was preaching and that it was an inappropriate consequence and said it was too harsh. I disagree. This escalated (she had gone off by this point) and I said that he makes it sound like he thinks I am bullying her. He said he does think that I was bullying her but has since apologised for this.
Thoughts? Was it a disproportionately harsh consequence?
This is something we consistently disagree over and we are both tired of it.