do you feel the parenting/disciplining duties are shared equally between you and your spouse?

So far it's pretty even. Michael's still a bit too young. I think I tend to hold off a little longer before scolding him than she does, though.

gee, let me see---

HELL NO.

Again, it's a matter of timing here. i'm with them the most so i wield the stick.

i really hate when :twocents: may be thrown in from left field at times

i am much stricter than the mrs. she occasionally has to remind me to back down.

I agree with RR, the parent that is home can handle. We do communicate to each other what happened so we are in the loop on things.

If we are home together then whomever answers up to the DAD or MOM deals with it.

If there is a question to the punishment we discuss privately away from the kids

My oldest son - I wielded the stick. A number of arguments ensued over his discipline - his mom felt that I wasn't tough enough on him at times and I felt she used to try and put assinine restraints on a very active boy. Many times she came across as you're going to listen to what I say just because I said so. I offered a reason and an explanation for punishment every time he got out of line. It worked, he's graduating high school in two weeks and has a fine head on his shoulders.

My youngest son - totally different kid, laid back, rarely needed any type of punishment for anything other than a lackadaisial attitude towards school. That is still a battle being fought with him at times but he's made some major gains.

Mrs jrjo tows a much tighter line. I'm more marshmallowie. When we're together, whoever makes a decision, the other supports its so the kids see an equal front. No major issues yet...but our oldest is only six.

Oh WOW did we ever have problems agreeing on this. She insisted I had to be the one to do the whipping when it was time to string them up by the feet naked and use that big strap with the holes in it. She was afraid she would hit them too hard!

Actually we would discuss it and decide on a course of action then as soon as I was not around she would do or not do whatever suited her fancy at that moment. As a result they knew they could get away with just about anything when I wasn't present and the chance of having to pay a price for it was minimal.

For example: we discussed the fact that they would come home from school and immediately go in the living room and squat in front of the TV I felt they should be outside learning how to entertain themselves "in the wild". I felt that time of remaining daylight was better spent getting acquainted with the world outside and homework could be done after supper. We live in an area where you can still wander in the woods and discover nature. We agreed she would make sure they either did that or homework if they didn't want to go outside. I became self employed and worked in back of the house. Whenever I came in the house they would just be leaving the living room (where the TV is) and heading to their rooms or outside. Being a couple bricks shy of a hod it took me several weeks to deduce that she had no intention of applying what we had agreed on. As years progressed it was also obvious that she had no intention of enforcing any rules we agreed on about anything and if I mentioned it she came down on me like the barrel of bricks in Dear Boss. It seemed that whatever method I chose was wrong but she had no consistent method at all so I began staying out of the house as much as I could which was easy to do when I had a dragster that needed my attention 4 evenings a week and some Saturdays to be able to win on Sunday.

I felt they were probably better off with her inconsistent discipline than living with us fighting over it all the time because I would speak up if I was home when I didn't agree with her because it bothered me so much seeing the confusion for them. Watching her frustration created by her lack of consistency drove me up a wall but trying to step in to help was even worse. Now with them on either side of 50 they both look up to me so I guess my decision wasn't too bad but I wish I had had more to do with their growing up years. I see other people who appear to be enjoying a great family experience with their kids as they grow up and I'm envious.

Don't have kids but I will tell you that I'm in charge of punching our cat.

He and I have many unresolved issues with parenting style and discipline. I'm not sure style is the right word. It's a sensitive subject for me.

I am a little more lenient only because I have more patience. But I back her up even when I disagree and vice versa.

So we are pretty close.

:LOL:
now that you mention it, he never says a word to those two either