Making the Punishment Fit the Crime

Today I mailed a $649 check to a district court in Washington to pay my husband's bail forfeiture for a crime he did not commit, but which we have no way to prove.  

Life's kinda awesome sometimes, isn't it?

Anyway, it got me thinking about making punishments fit crimes.  I try to do that in my own house with my kids.  For examples, see this post about discipline.  But the King of Punishments is my father.  Hands down.  I will never forget the lesson I learned on the way to my grandma's house when I was just five years old...

It was a cloudy day and I was in the backseat of our tiny car because we were all going to see Grandma.  My parents were in the front seats talking about boring adult stuff, and I was sitting near the window with my older sister beside me.  We were coloring in our She-Ra! Princess of Power! coloring books to pass the time on the drive. 

I was always the scandalous child who had to be warned and threatened before my parents could take me to any social gathering.  I didn't have a very proficient personal filter, and it's still a little faulty today. So in the car that day, being who I was, I took a purple crayon and snickered while I filled in the giant spheres of She-Ra's breasts.  I thought it was so hilarious to color just her boobs and leave everything else un-colored.  I simply had to show it to my sister!

When our giggles caught the attention of my parents in the front seat, I was made to pass my coloring book up to my mother.  She looked at what I had done, (I'm pretty sure I remember her pinching back a smile), and showed it to my dad. 

Not. Good.

My father told me that because I was so proud of my drawing, I could present it to Grandma just as it was.  

I was Horrified.  With a capital H.

And my father followed through.  When we arrived at Grandma's house, I had to tear the page from my coloring book and present it to Grandma as a picture I had colored for her.

She hung it on her refrigerator.

To this day, I do not color boobs.  I do not draw dirty pictures. Except for that one time on a Magnadoodle, but I quickly erased it. And I only did it that once to entertain Andrew on a long road trip.  Even now I feel really bad about that.

So how do you make your child's punishments fit the crimes? I don't think I'll ever be as good at it as my dad was, but I'd love to hear some ideas.

P.S.  Still time to enter the drawing for the super-awesome scarf or baby blanket!