I took a 5 hour trip across the state on Tuesday, leaving DD8 and SS5 with DH for 24 hours straight. This was obviously not the best idea I've ever had. Came back to a messy house and SS5 on a roll. It seems like DH just doesn't notice this stuff until it's so out of control that it can;t be ignored. A bit of backstory;

In less than 24 hours, I crossed the state twice, waited two hours for a plane to come in, and carted a car full of teens and preteens from place to place to place as a favor to a friend in desperate need. When I came home, after less than two hours sleep, all I wanted was a nap. Surprise! SS5 was not about to let that happen. I came into my room and shut the door while DH set up SS5, DD8, and my ten year old little brother (who is staying with us for the summer) on the PS3. We only have two controllers, which means the kids have to SHARE! Gods forbid, but I'll let you guess which of the children had an issue with this. Needless to say, there was much yelling and screaming at the older children over the game.

I was determined to get my nap, so I figured I would let DH handle it. He gave two warnings to SS5, then decided that he too was going to nap. HA! SS5 continued to scream, at which point I sent him to his room. The screaming continued for 10 minutes. I let him do it, thinking maybe (just maybe) he would get it all out and calm down. Nope. After ten minutes he started banging on his door yelling to be let out. Dh slept through all of this. Yet when I had to go out (for the first and only time mind you) and tell the older two children to keep it down, he wonders why only SS5 got in trouble? Are you effing kidding me? Seriously.

At dinner, the kids wanted tacos. We don;t splurge for fast food often, but this time we did. DH asked me if he should ask the kids what they wanted, I told him to skip it cause SS5 would just say he didn't like it anyways. He asked regardless. When he came back, the first thing out of SS5's mouth was "Excuse me, this is NOT a cheese burrito! It has meat!" Then pushed it away. I just rolled my eyes and told him to eat it or go hungry, then go back to his room. With that attitude, he could remain grounded in his room for the remainder of the day. All two hours of the day before bedtime. As soon as he leaves, DH tells me I'm being too harsh. Really? I had no words. We talked about it, he asked if SS5 should be raised by Nana. Ummm NO! Then told me he didn;t know what to do, because SS5 is always in trouble and he just can;t change that.

I'm so lost on where to go from here. The kid misbehaves constantly. Has attitude like no one's business. I am told that DH trusts me to "parent the way I need to parent" yet still feels like I'm picking on SS5 when I do exactly that. Am I being too harsh? Is it really that unreasonable after a day of rule breaking, disregarding requests, screaming, fit throwing, bossy, attitude to expect him to be grounded to his room for a day?