[SamuraiScot]

“if you don’t behave you might be forced by the courts to go live with your father”

Diabolically clever. You evoke the fear of the father's way of life, along with the ham-handed stupidity of the courts, all in one little phrase.

[cinives]

Thanks :) She understood that since I was willing to fight for what even she, at age 8, believed to be her best interest, she complied willingly with the reasonable discipline at home.

Oddly, it wasn’t until this year that I’ve ever gotten any lip from her (the god-you-are-so-stupid look we all occasionally get from teenagers). I welcome it, in small measure, as a healthy way to assert independence.