My husband never sticks to punishments he gives to my step children who continuously lie, skip school, fail classes and are just disrespectful. I know he has the divorded dad guilt, but I keep telling him you cannot reward bad behavior and not follow through with punishments. I have been with my husband since my step kids were 4 and 7...they are now 14 and almost 17. They have two completely different sets of rules between our home and their BM's. We believe in boundries and getting a good education and that you don't get to just do whatever - whenever. It is so frustrating because while my husband and I are on the same page about how we want to raise them, he does not stick to anything and they continue to repeat the same bad behavior and they usually always get whatever they want. We always end up in a fight because he goes against the rules we've established to protect his children even though ultimately he knows it's wrong. The problem is my husband thinks I am the nagging jerk when I tell him our daughter has skipped school again, but he does nothing about it and I get pissed! He may give her the same old long speech about her responsibilities, blah, blah, blah, but then there are no consequences. So, we end up in a fight because I get frustrated to see the pattern happen over and over again with no consequences. And, if there is some type of punishment, he never sticks to it. He is a wonderful man, but has this guilt that takes over. He has lied to me to "protect" them when they were the ones who did something wrong (like lie to sneak around with a boyfriend, or not go to class because they weren't prepared for a test, or continually getting detention). Any advice for a frustrated step-mama and wife???