Parenting styles differ, yours isn't one of discipline. If I hadn't had discipline at that age, I'd be hopelessly undisciplined now (in hindsight, I reckon my

Parenting styles differ, yours isn't one of discipline. If I hadn't had discipline at that age, I'd be hopelessly undisciplined now (in hindsight, I reckon my parents probably should have disciplined me even more than they did). Taking away my favorite things when I misbehaved worked wonders for me - I then did what I was told. "But never, never, never willfully hurt them by throwing away their favorite candy. So wrong on so many levels" Why, what are those levels? Discipline works by first explaining the rules and the reason for them then enforcing the rules with rewards and sanctions. It works for kids, it's the same for army recruits - in fact everyone. Mollycoddling kids who then never have a day of remorse throughout childhood deprives them of resilience later on in life. Resilience is so important that not instilling it into kids early on in life is of itself abuse. There's a huge difference between disciplining kids and willfully hurting them. In the above scanario the candy is thrown away but the parent has a choice of whether he or she is administrating discipline or undue cruelty. It's how one goes about it that matters.