[dumptruk]

Likely anecdotal, but I recall doing a bad behavior (throwing another kids binder over the school fence), that absolutely mortified me in second grade.

Another one was me kicking an exit door of a school when a friend was deliberately holding the exit door closed.

Looking back, the punishments felt arbitrary based on some random factor that I didn’t understand as a kid. Throwing a binder meant monetary compensation (described by the principal). Kicking the door didn’t have a definitive reason, but I assumed general “rambunctiousness” was to blame.

Maybe I’m passing the buck here, but I didn’t completely understand the result of my actions, and felt, as an adult, was an obvious opportunity to teach a kid something enlightening but instead just got passed to my parents who were happy to punish me without context. I’m 38

[itronitron]

One data point for you to add to the arbitrary column...

One of my children chucked their school laptop out of their bedroom window which then landed on concrete fifty feet below. The display was shattered, so I emailed the school and informed them that the laptop had been dropped and damaged, and can we order a replacement. They let us know the replacement cost, and we picked up the new laptop a few weeks later but were never billed for the expense :)

[TedDoesntTalk]

Out of curiosity, how did you discipline your child? What were the consequences?

[itronitron]

They owned up to it and were so upset about having done it that the discipline/consequences imposed were pretty mild. I made the point several times to them that they were incredibly lucky that no one was hit by it on the way down, and that they absolutely can't do it again. I'm pretty sure they hadn't thought that through.