My 9 year old stepson screams at the top of his lungs, hit things, throws things, slams doors, and throws himself into objects when he's mad. The other day he pelted me really hard in the head with a shoe during a tantrum. It's been 2 days and I still have a bump. He apologized to me, because he wanted to go to soccer practice. My fiance asked how I wanted to handle it. I said "If he wants to go to soccer then he is grounded to his room for the rest of the day when he gets home from school." Everyone agreed to the punishment.
The next day when he came home I reminded him that he was grounded for the rest of the day. He told me that his dad said that he was only grounded from not going outside for the rest of the day. I said, "I thought he was grounded to his room for the rest of the day". My fiance said, "Well I told him he just can't go outside." So the rest of the night my stepson was able to watch tv and play inside.
His lack of follow through is the only thing that is consistent. The kids don't listen to him, because they know if they just get out of his sight for a while that he won't follow up with them. I have been assisting in getting them to listen with his permission. Now when I brought up that he didn't complete his 9 year old's punishment and that any child psychologist would tell him parents have to follow through with punishments or they will not take the parents seriously. Then he tells me to mind my own business and that they are his children. HELP!