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[I believe that an adult should have picked up the girl wrapped their arms around her and sat her on his/her lap until Daddy arrived. Let her scream until then and from there on she's Daddy's problem. But what do I know, I am just an old Grampa, who has 4 adult children and 12 grand children.]

You know a LOT.

When I was about 12 years old, we went to a thanksgiving dinner at the relatives' house and one of the boys (about 9 years old) was being a monster, running around breaking things and harassing everyone else despite the feeble whining of her mother to get him to stop. The boy's dad didn't seem to notice.

At one point, the boy started to annoy my father (not a smart thing to try on a former army officer, and Vietnam veteran) I guess to see how far he could push this new guy, and my father just picked him up, then turned him around and put him face down on the couch and SAT ON HIM.

The kid got scared and started yelling and squirming, but my dad only laughed as if it were a game and got everyone else in the room to laugh along with it. The boy didn't know what to do because he knew he wasn't being hurt, or even made uncomfortable, only that he couldn't move and that everyone kept laughing as if it were some fun game. The boy's parents looked uncomfortable but didn't say anything, as I assume my dad knew they wouldn't.

After about 10 minutes, the kid stopped hollering and tried the "I'll be good, I promise" thing but my father wouldn't let him up until he could stay still and behave for about 10 more minutes. After he was finally allowed to get up, the boy acted like an angel for the rest of the day.

That lesson has stayed with me, and I've used that same technique on 3 other boys (two of them relatives, and one of them a neighbor) since then. I've noticed that after doing this, the kid really respects you for a long time, because he is shown that some adult is absolutely in charge and the kid is completely powerless.

I know that doing this with a stranger's child, or with children in your care as a teacher is not an option today, but I can't help but think we'd all be better off if it were.

Great story.

Parents who do not teach the limits of behavior to a young child are quite likely to someday have to identify the child's body in the morgue.

Human beings are born sinful and selfish and have to be TAUGHT, by loving parents, to behave properly. An undisciplined child will not naturally "swerve" toward the good.

A newborn is inherently focused on himself and must be taught he has a serious responsibility to adhere to family rules and to society's rules.

It is not LOVE to allow a child to maintain complete selfishness throughout childhood. This is a condemnation of a child to a horrible experience in relating to the world where the world will ultimately teach a harsh and perhaps fatal lesson to the undisciplined.