another, without excuse or reason; that overdoes indulgence at one moment and turns arbitrary and tyrannical at another. This upbring-ing is among the greatest causes that make a child disobey and rebel and behave in aimless, muddled ways that only increase the parents' own confusion and lack of balance.

Seventh — excessive fear, or "sarsab" — that fear which prevents the child from doing things that give him pleasure and benefit his growth, out of watchfulness for his health, as they claim, or for fear he may hurt himself. This anxious fear deprives the child of natural sleep and natural maturing, and makes him difficult in temper and fierce in disposition.

Eighth — the parents' living for the sake of their children, instead of living with them. This spoils for the children the pleasure of the free, merry life which it is their right to live, and makes the parents lose their natural right to an independent life, so that each of the two parties becomes a burden on the other.

If parents guarded against the errors mentioned, and used their reason every time the child deserved a punishment, and searched for the cause before pun-ishing its effect, we would have no need to enumerate the kinds of pun-ishments and their occasions; for the most important thing to attend to is the sound upbringing that guarantees the desired conduct, and looking at the child's problems with understanding and feeling, instead of concerning ourselves with the kinds and forms of the punishments he deserves.

But since the society in which the child grows up is not an ideal society, punishment may sometimes be unavoidable, for punishment has an educational benefit that we cannot deny. Yet for punishment to have its educational benefit, it must be proportioned to the offense com-mitted; and once the punishment has been fixed, it must be followed through to the end, because following it through, and repeating it on similar occasions, makes the child understand its purpose, and he refrains from the wayward act for fear of its repetition. Short of that,

punishment can have no benefit at all; indeed it may bring the opposite of the aim sought.

I shall end this word of mine by relating an incident that makes clear to us a basic truth which

we cannot overlook in judging our children,

namely, our recognition that the child has an independent personal-ity with its own right to think, to feel, and to act for itself. The incident is this: I passed one day