Psychologist: Some people contend that children should never be reprimanded  Any criticism, let alone punishment, they say, harms children' s self-esteem  This view is laudable in its challenge to the belief that children should be punished whenever they misbehave, yet it gives a dangerous answer to the question of how often punishment should be inflicted
When parents never reprimand their children, they are in effect rewarding them for unacceptable behavior, and rewarded behavior tends to recur
is designed to establish as true