Before you punish your kids consider this.

 
They have their own experience too. And, so, whatever it is that you think they should be doing is simply different from whatever it is that they think they should be doing. Now, punishment is a broad term, but what it really comes down to is trying to understand them, and have them understand you.
When you punish arbitrarily, oftentimes that gets lost in translation and the kids end up just fearing rather than understanding. And, ultimately, they get bigger than us so once they stop fearing us, then what? The better thing to do is to try to understand them and help them to understand you.