Discipline pays dividends

Tonight I had a conversation with a friend in which he asked me, "Are you still enjoying fatherhood?" My answer was an emphatic yes.

I've been particularly conscious lately of just how worthwhile the difficult discipline of the second and third years has been. Now when I give Elisabeth a direction, I know that she will do it without the directive being repeated. When she disobeys, she knows that the way out is confession and repentance. It is the exception, rather than the rule, to hear a request not accompanied by please. And when she comes to me with a complaint about another child, I know that she has already tried to talk with the other child about it. All those things make fathering a delight.

So when we go to the playground and I see parents frustrated that their four-year-olds (not to mention the older kids) won't listen to them, I am all the more convinced that setting and enforcing clear expectations early has made parenting a joy for us, and has allowed Elisabeth to blossom.