They can't and they won't

 When I was growing up, if we ever told my dad, "I can't," he would say, "You can and you will."

And if you know my dad, when he said that, we did whatever it was he wanted us to do.

Let's just say my dad was not a proponent of permissive parenting.

My students are the opposite of they can and they will.

When it rains I remind them not to step in the puddle that forms in a low spot near our door.  I tell them they will be miserable with wet feet the rest of the day.

About half of them tromp through the puddle, just for fun, and then whine about wet feet and wet pants the rest of the day.

When I have a headache and ask them to be quiet, they can't.  They won't.

We are one letter away from earning a pjs and stuffed animal day.  (Why this is a big ticket reward, I don't know, but it is.)

Yesterday I set my timer and said that if everything was cleaned up by the timer went off, they could earn their reward.

One girl sat at her desk pleasantly chatting with other people.  This was about the third day in a row that she did that and was responsible for them not earning a letter.

I said, "You don't want to be the reason they don't earn the reward!"

She said, "Oh!"  She put her computer away, but that was all.

(They didn't earn the reward.)

Also yesterday we had a "Beat the Street" assembly about safety.  Every student was gifted with a reflective arm band that I passed out at the end of the day.  They attached with velcro.  Since everything was done for the day, I read to them for the last five minutes.  The entire time, they were opening and closing the armbands.  Scratch scritch, scritch scratch.  I kept asking them to stop.  

They couldn't.  They wouldn't.

Finally I said, "I'm going to take the armbands away if you can't stop opening and closing them.  I ended up taking three of them away until they finally stopped.

(I gave them back when the bell rang.)

Maybe I need a take your dad to school day.  I need a little more you can and you will around there.