Life's Not Fair

We say so many things to our kids that would never fly if someone used it on us. Imagine if the guy who does accounts receivable was always 5-10 min late to work, & finally, your boss said, "That's it. I'm cutting everybody's pay by 2% because of Jimmy here, who can't seem to get to work on time."

The idea behind this kind of discipline is that group peer pressure will work better on Jimmy than pressure from the boss. But, really, what legal thing are you going to do to Jimmy? And if this were really school, Jimmy would be some cool kid who was untouchable anyway.

While such an approach to discipline would *never* fly with adults, I hear this refrain from parents and educators often, as an excuse for their approach to discipline. Those who promote this view say that the sooner kids learn this lesson, the better off they will be. I think it's a lazy approach, a shirking of responsibility.

I'm a grown up. I know life's not fair. Shoot, I knew it when I was a kid. What I don't want is to perpetrate that unfairness in my own home. Life may not be fair, but to the best of my abilities, I will be. You can count on it.