My husband “Greg” and I have an 8-year-old son, “Trevor,” and a 6-year-old daughter, “Rose,” and I have reached a breaking point with his method of disciplining them. Whenever they do something wrong, he makes them hold a spoonful of Tabasco sauce in their mouth for up to two minutes as punishment. I think this is borderline abusive and have yelled at him for it, but that only serves as a stopgap measure. I am the primary breadwinner in the family, and as such, he is at home with the kids far more often than me. When he is in charge of the kids and I’m not around, the Tabasco sauce punishment resumes. His justification is that his mother did it to him and his sister growing up and they, “Turned out fine.” He says that when he’s in charge of the kids, it’s his rules and when I’m in charge of them, it’s my rules.
When I asked him to see a family therapist to resolve our disagreement, he refused, because according to him, he doesn’t want to “waste money on a difference of opinion” regarding parenting. Short of sending Trevor and Rose to a sitter while I’m at work (which would be a significant expense we can’t really afford) or getting a divorce, there doesn’t seem to be a way to put an end to this. Any ideas?
—Hold the Hot Sauce
https://slate.com/advice/2024/07/husband-kids-cruel-punishment-hot-sauce-parenting-advice.html