The consequences of no more punishments

Nobody gets punished anymore.  The word punishment is not even in kids' vocabulary anymore.

I'm not sure when we lost punishments altogether, but teenagers don't seem to know or use the word.  The shift must have started ten to fifteen years ago when people decided that it was more important to massage children's egos while disciplining them.

The unintended "consequence" has been a bastardization of the English language.  Students are getting ready for college by writing essays that describe the Salem Witch trials as women who received consequences because others thought they were witches.

Saddam Hussein received a consequence for his actions as an Iraqi dictator.

OJ Simpson was able to kill two people without receiving consequences.

Where have all the punishments gone?  Have we parented the word out of the language?

The other thing we seem to have parented away is the ability to send a kid to the office for being bad.

As a teacher, there are some students who make it impossible for the others in the room to learn, so they need to get kicked out.  Last week I did that, but was later informed that I had given the child a time-out.

Sometimes the connotation of the word is appropriate for the situation.  Children don't need everything wrapped up with a ribbon - if they are bad, they can be punished.  If needed, they can be kicked out or suspended.

We're not doing anyone any favors by coddling them.  Let a consequence be a punishment.  Kids need to feel bad for what they do if they are to emotionally connect their actions to the results.