Ren Allen

"Can anyone give me examples of situations and things
that would be considered natural consequences and
things that would be considered not natural
consequences and why?"

A natural consequence is something that happens, all on it's own,
because of an action.
If I eat nothing, I WILL eventually starve to death.
If someone smashes their head into a wall hard enough, they will get
hurt.
If I drive my car into a telephone pole, something will get damaged.
If I stand out in the rain without any protection, the natural
consequence is that I will get wet.

What a natural consequence is NOT, is when a parent punishes a child
and calls it a "natural consequence"..there is nothing natural about
it.
It's trendy to give "natural consequences" to a child that is doing
something the parent doesn't like....take away tv privileges if they
watch too much tv, give extra chores if they don't do their chores,
make them eat something for breakfast if they don't finish it,
restrict them from some fun activity because they weren't behaving
the way the parent wanted.....blah, blah, blah.

In that case, "natural consequence" is just a sugar coated way of
saying PUNISHMENT.
None of those things would have happened naturally, the parent chose
them.

Ren

k

Right. To go further, if a child who doesn't know better stands out in

the road and the parent doesn't try to rescue the child from getting
run
over when cars barrel down that road (can't imagine such a neglectful
person), that's not a natural consequence either. Same with a child
going to bed hungry because he didn't eat "when dinner was served."
Those are not natural consequences. They are the result of arbitrary
decisions the parent/caregiver(s) have made.

Kathe



Ren Allen wrote:
> "Can anyone give me examples of situations and things
> that would be considered natural consequences and
> things that would be considered not natural
> consequences and why?"
>
> A natural consequence is something that happens, all on it's own,
> because of an action. If I eat nothing, I WILL eventually starve to
death.
> If someone smashes their head into a wall hard enough, they will get
> hurt. If I drive my car into a telephone pole, something will get
damaged.
> If I stand out in the rain without any protection, the natural
> consequence is that I will get wet.
>
> What a natural consequence is NOT, is when a parent punishes a child
> and calls it a "natural consequence"..there is nothing natural about
> it. It's trendy to give "natural consequences" to a child that is
doing
> something the parent doesn't like....take away tv privileges if they
> watch too much tv, give extra chores if they don't do their chores,
> make them eat something for breakfast if they don't finish it,
> restrict them from some fun activity because they weren't behaving
> the way the parent wanted.....blah, blah, blah.
>
> In that case, "natural consequence" is just a sugar coated way of
> saying PUNISHMENT. None of those things would have happened
naturally,
> the parent chose them.
>
> Ren

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