Discipline

One of the main ways that children learn how to behave is, ironically, by misbehaving. When a child misbehaves, such as by writing on a wall with a marker or by telling a lie about who ate all of the cookies, the child then elicits discipline from a parent or other caregiver. Discipline is defined here as a reaction from a parent or other adult in response to a child’s misbehavior that is intended to correct it. That correction can have a short-term goal, such as getting the child to stop writing on the wall and clean it up, and a long-term goal, such as preventing the child from doing it again by explaining that writing on the wall damages it and can cost a ...