[Sidenote: Real Disobedience]

Disobedience, then, in a true sense, does not mean failure to do as he
is told to do. It means failure to do the things that he knows to
be right. He must be taught to listen and obey the voice of his own
conscience; and if that voice should ever speak, as it sometimes
does, differently from the voice of the conscience of his parents
or teachers, its dictates must still be respected by these older and
wiser persons, and he must be permitted to do this thing which in
itself may be foolish, but which is not foolish, to him.

[Sidenote: Liberty]

And, on the other hand, the child who will have his own way even when
he knows it to be wrong should be allowed to have it within reasonable
limits. Richter says, leave to him the sorry victory, only exercising
sufficient ingenuity to make sure that it is a sorry one. What he must
be taught is that it is not at all a pleasure to have his own way,
unless his own way happens to be right; and this he can only be taught
by having his own way when the results are plainly disastrous. Every
time that a willful child does what he wants to do, and suffers
sharply for it, he learns a lesson that nothing but this experience
can teach him.

[Sidenote: Self-Punishment]

But his suffering must be plainly seen to be the result of his deed,
and not the result of his mother's anger. For example, a very young
child who is determined to play with fire may be allowed to touch the