I (45M) have always been the man of the house. I take that responsibility seriously. I believe in raising strong, independent kids who can face the real world without crumbling every time they have a bad day. Sometimes that means I have to lay down the law — not because I enjoy it, but because it's necessary. Someone has to be the adult in the room.

Lately, my 15-year-old daughter has been acting differently. She used to be a big part of family game nights, movie nights, BBQs, all of it. Now, she'd rather lock herself in her room than spend time with the people who raised her. Instead of appreciating everything we provide — private school, vacations, and a roof over her head, she locks herself in her room and sulks. She'll sit in there all night if I let her. I don't, obviously. I make her come out and participate, whether she likes it or not. Kids need structure and guidance, not freedom to wallow in whatever made-up feelings they think they have.

She also got into the habit of gluing herself to her phone. When I saw that happening, I started taking it away until she could act like a member of the family again. Once, she even had the nerve to lock her door to keep me out of the room I paid for. So naturally, we took the door off. Privacy is a privilege, which isn’t for children who can’t behave.

We also have basic rules. Like, if you eat something, clean up after yourself. Simple. Yet, she can’t even manage that. Every time I walk past her room and see trash or cups on her nightstand, that's another electronic gone for the night. Actions have consequences. That's how life works.

Then her grades started slipping. Just typical teenage laziness. So, in response, we grounded her. No Netflix, no allowance, and extra chores on top of homework at night. Her grades still aren’t amazing, but they’ve improved since we took action. When I was her age, if I even thought about slacking off, my father would send me outside to find a stick to beat me with. I turned out just fine. She's lucky we’re raising her better.

Recently, though, she’s gotten even more dramatic. She walks around like some kind of zombie, all mopey. My wife eventually started nagging about “mental health” and saying we should take her to a psychiatrist. I’ve never been to a shrink in my life, and I’m a perfectly functioning adult. Most therapists are just scammers selling pills anyway. Depression and anxiety are all fake conditions invented so lazy people can excuse failure. I’ve faced real problems like debt, injuries, layoffs — and you didn’t see me running to a therapist crying about my feelings. I handled it like a man. My daughter needs to learn that too.

Then things escalated. My wife noticed my daughter acting weird walking between her room and the bathroom one night. That same week, apparently, razor blades went missing from my wife’s toiletries bag. We didn't think much of it at the time and I just assumed my wife misplaced them, until a new pack was opened with a razor missing that my wife didn’t open. We then realized our daughter was taking them after using the bathroom. My wife suggested that maybe our daughter was hurting herself. At first, I didn’t want to believe it. But when it clicked, I was furious. I stormed to her room and caught her dismantling a razor blade in her bed like some deranged person. I lost it. I demanded to know what she was doing. She tried playing dumb, but I knew she was lying. I got right in her face, screamed that she shows me what she was doing. She started fake sobbing, which I wasn’t having, so I pulled her out of bed, bent her over my knee, and gave her a spanking. I’ll admit it got a little more intense than usual, but frankly, she should’ve known better than to lie to me.

When she still wouldn’t own up, I told her if she didn’t show me, I’d start checking for cuts myself and then she'd be in real trouble. I told her this is my house, my rules. If she doesn’t like it, she’ll be sleeping on the streets tonight. Eventually, she rolled up her sleeve and showed us shallow cuts. There was a bunch of them, but they were honestly tiny, my first thought was this was just drama for attention.

At that moment I was furious, and I remembered back in eighth grade, I got falsely accused of wanting to hurt myself, and I ended up being taken out of school for a psych evaluation. My dad was fuming. He screamed at me the whole way home and when we got inside, he handed me a loaded gun and dared me to pull the trigger if I really wanted to die. I didn’t want to. He instructed me to lay my hands on our countertop and ended up beating my knuckles with a broom for embarrassing him. It was harsh, sure, but it straightened me out. I lived. I’m fine. I didn't want my daughter going down that same path. My dad did what needed to be done. I’m grateful he wasn’t weak like most parents today.

At that moment, I thought about doing the same thing. I thought about grabbing one of my guns like my dad did and making her admit she doesn’t want to die — but I didn’t. I held back.

My wife stood there horrified the whole time and later packed a bag for our daughter, took her to my mother-in-law's house, and now refuses to come back. My wife says she needs time to "reconsider" our marriage, that she and my daughter were "terrified" by what they saw that night.  She wants therapy and medication for our daughter now, but I’m against it. Depression is fake. It’s just another word for laziness. Kids today just don't know what real struggle is.

Honestly, I haven’t been able to stop drinking since they left. I feel a little bad about how far I went, sure, but I also feel like I reacted like any concerned, normal father would. I was trying to save my daughter from herself.

AITA for disciplining my daughter the way I did? How can I make my wife and daughter see that I am only trying to help?