Consequences - or lack thereof

I have grave concerns about how the current generation of children are going to turn out once they reach adulthood. First there are the jumpless jump ropes so that uncoordinated kids don't get their feelings hurt. Then, of course, there are the trophies that every kid gets for participating in a sport. There is no such thing as MVP or Best Hitter or Highest Scorer anymore. They're all special. But this post isn't about coddling kids and being politically correct. This rant is about the lack of consequences.

Lincoln and I are fairly strict disciplinarians. If the kids do something wrong, they get in trouble. It's as simple as that. And if Hannah forgets her homework we tell her she has to live with the consequences.

And that's the problem.

There are no consequences.

Last Monday Hannah stayed home sick. Every Friday she has a spelling test. That gave her Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday to study but she forgot to bring the list home every single day that week. Thursday night I asked her about it and she said she still hadn't brought home her list so I told her she'd have to take the test on Friday and deal with the consequences. She's pretty good at spelling so even having not studied she probably would have scored pretty high on the test but it was the principal of the matter and the idea that she'd have to take the test even if she wasn't ready.

Me: Hannah, how did your test go today?

Hannah: I didn't have to take it.

Me: What?

Hannah: The teacher said I didn't have to take it because I was out on Monday.

Me: Yeah, but you were there on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

Hannah: I know. I told her I was ready to take it but she said I didn't have to and didn't give me the test paper.

What the hell?!?!

I happened to be chatting with a friend of mine right after Hannah and I had this discussion and I was telling her about it. She said that another friend of hers had a son who hadn't been turning in the weekly assignments all year. The teacher never called or emailed the mother about it until after the mother contacted the teacher after overhearing another student in the class talk about the assignment. The teacher just didn't make him turn them in but admitted to the mother when asked that it had been, in fact, a weekly assignment ever since the beginning of the year.

What are these kids going to grow up thinking? That life has no consequences? That everyone is special and will get awards just for breathing.

I'm sorry but that's bull shit. It's bad parenting. It's bad coaching. It's bad teaching. It's just overall bad news. We are going to be one seriously fucked up society when these kids are in charge.