Question
My 8-year old daughter has been really struggling with the same few bad habits for months. For one, she almost never obeys or follows directions the first time she’s told. She’s not disrespectful, she just immediately either asks “why” or starts protesting her reason for not wanting to do the thing (for example: clean up your room-“but I just started a new game” etc). The other big thing she’s doing is being sneaky. She’s been caught sneaking candy from the candy bowl after asking and being told no, she’s been caught going through my husband’s things after being told not to, and tonight we put her to bed and then I heard a noise and walked in to find that she had been watching YouTube Kids on her tablet under her covers for almost 2 hours. She has severely limited access to her tablet (only on weekends and after chores/etc are done and for limited time and asking permission first). I took the tablet away and told her we would discuss consequences with her in the morning but I’m not sure which consequences will be appropriate enough to teach a lesson without being TOO much. I’m tempted to permanently get rid of the tablet just based on the fact that she’s lost my trust with the repeated sneakiness. I’m not sure I fully understand a garden kick and with Christmas this week I feel so guilty letting her not have access to Christmas gifts she will receive.
