when the emergency comes.

From these two cases we may see that it is important to get first
the child's habit of attending to what is said to him--by making
everything that is said to him _count_. In the second place,
the child must be taught to feel that what he is directed to do is
the best thing to do.

For getting the child to obey we must keep constantly in mind the
idea that we are working for certain habits. Now, a habit is
acquired only through constant repetition of a given act or a given
kind of behavior. The first rule for the parent should therefore be
to be absolutely consistent in demanding obedience from the child.
If you call to the children in the nursery to stop their racket
(because father is taking a nap) and fail to insist upon the
quietness because father just whispers to you that he is not
sleeping, you have given the children practice in _disobedience_. If
they are to be allowed to go on with the noise, this should be because
you openly permit them to go on with their noisy fun, and not because
they may heedlessly disregard your wishes. Direct disobedience is not
to be overlooked under any circumstances. It is true that parents
often give orders that had better not be carried out; but the remedy
is not in allowing the children to disobey, but in thinking twice or
thrice before giving a command, or in agreeing with them upon a course
of action without giving commands at all. By giving no orders that are
unnecessary or that are arbitrary, the child will come in time to feel
that your interferences with his own impulses are intended for his own
good.

[Illustration: Only a good reason can warrant calling an absorbed