A family recently acquired two horses, at the request of the younger daughter who was eager to continue her riding lessons. The older daughter, on the other hand, was against the idea as she preferred a more “princessy” lifestyle and did not want to deal with the mess and chores that came with owning horses. However, the younger sister promised to take care of all the responsibilities, so the older daughter was assured she wouldn’t have to participate.
Recently, the older daughter’s behavior changed for the worse, as she became disrespectful at home, staying out late, and her grades started to slip. The parents warned her to improve, but her behavior only got worse. The parents discovered that the older daughter was needlessly insulting her younger sister while they were out running errands. As a result, the parents decided to assign cleaning out the stable as a punishment for the older daughter for a week, with the intention of giving her younger sister a break.
The older daughter became upset and felt that her parents broke their promise of never having to deal with the horses. However, the parents reminded her that a punishment is supposed to be outside of one’s normal chores and is not meant to be liked, and it was only fair in this situation.
Despite her initial resentment, the older daughter has been cleaning the stable for three days now, but still seems to be very resentful of the punishment and continues to plead to be released from the rest of her punishment. The parents, however, believe that the punishment is fair and that the older daughter is overreacting.