GENTLE MEASURES. CHAPTER I. THE THREE MODES OF MANAGEMENT. Ir is not impossible that in the minds of some persons the idea of employing gentle measures in the management and training of children may seem to imply the abandonment of the principle of authority, as the basis of the parental government, and the substitution of some weak and inefficient system of artifice and manœuvring in its place. To suppose that the object of this work is to aid in effecting such a substitution as that, is entirely to mistake its nature and design. The only government of the parent over the child that is worthy of the name is one of authority— complete, absolute, unquestioned authority. The object of this work is, accordingly, not to show how the gentle methods which will be brought to view can be employed as a substitute for such authority, but how they can be made to aid in establishing and maintaining it. Three Methods. There are three different modes of management customarily employed by parents as means of inducing their children to comply with their requirements. They are, 1. Government by Manoeuvring and Artifice. 2. By Reason and Affection. 3. By Authority. |