As most of you who read this blog know, I’m a stickler for words and definitions.  One of the places in which this comes up most frequently is in regard to “consequences.”  It’s not that I like being annoying, it’s that I just can’t help myself from commenting on this.  Not to skirt responsibility or anything, but I do have a mother who still, at age 95, corrects my “too” with “also” and my “yeah” with “yes.”  I just come by it honestly, that’s what I’m sayin’.

So when I read parents talk about their commitment to using “natural consequences” (a popular term these days) and then go on to describe things that are not natural consequences, it’s like fingernails on a chalkboard.  I try to be quiet or just leave the room or do my best to ignore it, but at some point, I find myself just covering my…