In parenting, as in the justice system, the punishment should fit the crime. Unfortunately, in both of those institutions, that doesn't always happen. It's obviously more damaging for someone to go to jail for 25 years for stealing some orange juice than for a kid to be grounded for 2 months for not cleaning their room. Still, in both cases, it's self-evident that whoever decided on the punishment was going way over the top. Punishment should give the punished a sufficient amount of time to reflect on what they did wrong and set themselves up for doing better in the future. If a kid is constantly punished in major ways for minor offenses, the intended effect of the punishment will become moot because they will start to believe that they can do no right. That might be the case for the 13-year-old in this story, whose punishment surely does not fit her crime.
This image is for illustration only, and the subjects are models; the image does not depict the actual subjects of the story.
