The principles on which a firm parental authority may be established and maintained, without violence or anger, and the right development of the moral and mental capacities be promoted-by methods in harmony with the structure and the characteristics of the young mind.
It is possible, that in the minds of some people 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 maneuvering 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.