The child must be trained early to know: "The way of the transgressor is
hard," and "He that sows the wind must reap the whirlwind." It is a great
mistake for the parent to step in and free the child from the consequences
of his first wrong acts. Let the consequences fall on his own head, and
perchance they will teach him wisdom. The true purpose of punishment is to
teach the necessity of obedience to law. Everything that is good and
desirable will come to him who obeys the law upon which the blessing is
predicated; every evil falls on the head of him who constantly violates
law. In the final analysis, the punishments which nature inflicts are kind,
because they are warnings which, if heeded, will prevent serious injury.
The purpose of all discipline is to produce a self-governing individual,
not one who needs to be governed by someone else. Until a person learns to
govern himself he counts for little in this world.

Two serious mistakes are made in child government. One is the indulgence of
a soft, vacillating policy by the parent which permits a child to shirk his
duties and to escape from the natural results of his misdeeds. Through the
parent's taking upon his own shoulders the consequences of the child's
wrong-doing, the child is lured into the false belief that duty may be
shirked, responsibility set aside, and life be made to yield one sweet
round of pleasure. How will a child so trained be prepared to endure the
disappointments and heartaches of a world which compels each of us to
drink his portion of the bitter hemlock?

The other mistake is to employ unnatural or arbitrary punishments. Even the
smallest child has an instinctive idea of justice and resents anything
which he regards as unjust. On the other hand, he learns quickly the
inevitableness with which pain follows the violation of law, and how
certain is the working out of cause and effect.