Polly Bath: There is a difference between punishment and consequence.

Punishment is something adults give out to show they’ve done something about the behavior. It makes us feel better.

Consequence is something that TEACHES a skill. It is more sustainable.

If a kid were to push another kid down playing tag, the punishment would be to ban tag. But that doesn’t teach the child anything.

Instead, the consequence would be to not allow the kid to play tag for a few days. And teach him this is what you do, this is what you don’t do. After that, he can play tag again.

There are kids in high school who are in in-school suspention over and over again. They just sit there, doing classwork. It really worries me no one is doing intervention.

That’s the difference, teaching skills. And it’s so important we do that!