“Adam, we need to talk about your suspension.” Whatever. “No, not whatever. This is really serious and we need to talk about it.” I’m already getting punished by being suspended, isn’t that enough? “No, we need to talk about it too. I want to hear what happened from your perspective.” You already talked to the people at school, didn’t you? Why do I need to talk about it? “Yes, I spoke to your counselor about what happened, but I need to hear it from you too.” Fine. This kid was being rude to me, so I hit him. That’s it. “What did he say to you?” No, I told you what happened, that’s all you asked about. “Adam, we’re not leaving until you tell me.” Fine, he was calling me names and he told me I was dumb. OK? “So you hit him.” Yeah. “Why didn’t you tell him to stop?” I did, why would he listen? “OK. I understand that you were angry and that you were being treated badly. But you’re old enough to know that hitting someone is never the way to solve something.” Yeah, whatever. “Do you know that?” Yes! I get it, that’s why I’m being suspended, because I was bad. Can we be done now? “No. We need to talk about your punishment.” My punishment is getting suspended. “Your punishment from me. You’re not just going to lay around the house for the next week. I’m taking away your phone and laptop and you’ll be working in the yard every day, mowing the lawn and raking up leaves and helping me prune the bushes.” Are you serious? “Yes, I am. I’ll also be talking to your counselor again about whether you can work on your assignments at home, so you don’t get behind when you come back.” Great. And the guy who was rude to me doesn’t get punished at all. “The school gave him a suspension as well. That doesn’t change that you were in the wrong, too. I’m sorry he was calling you names, that’s not OK, but you have to be the bigger person and know how to walk away.” I don’t want to talk about this anymore. “That’s fine. You’ll have plenty of time to think about it over this next week.” I can’t believe you. “I know you think I’m doing this just to be mean, but I’m not. I want this to help you. I know you’re better than this, Adam, and I want you to learn that too.”