Question
We had an issue over the weekend with two of our children - our daughter is 17 and our son is 20. They came to our room late Saturday night and stated that they were going to go check out a different church from where we attend on Sunday morning. My son had casually mentioned it earlier in the evening and I had indicated that I was not in favor of him doing that. When they approached us in our room, I was wanting to get to bed and didn't want to get in a long discussion. However, in trying to give them reasons, my son started being sarcastic. At that point, I guess I made a mistake and said that I needed to know whether I was talking to my "two year old son or twenty year old". He was very offended by that and started to leave with some sarcastic remark about us telling them to come to us to talk but then treating them rude. My daughter made a similar comment. I made them come back and told them to go to there room and then I expected a sincere apology the following day (Poor judgement on my part?) Anyway, they both responded yesterday with the comment that they could not and would not apologize because they didn't need to and we were the ones that offended them. I am willing to apologize for my mishandling of the situation, but I do not want to encourage their manipulation. What should I do? Should I carry out the punishment or respond in some other fashion?
