u cannot repeat a simple discipline two or three times and have the
child learn the lesson. In the case of the high-strung nervous child
it requires "line upon line and precept upon precept;" for, whereas a
normal child will respond to a certain discipline after it is repeated
a half dozen times, the nervous child will require the persistent
repetition of such a discipline from twenty-five to one hundred times
before the lesson sinks into his consciousness sufficiently to enable
him to gain control of his erratic and unbalanced nervous mechanism.

SPOILING THE CHILD

As bad as all spoiling methods are in child culture, they are
decidedly disastrous--almost fatal--in the case of the nervous child;
and yet it is these delicate, sensitive, cute little things that are
the very ones who are most frequently the worst spoiled. Nervous
children simply must not be played with all the time. They must be by
themselves a great deal, at least this is true in their earlier years.

The nervous baby must early learn absolute respect for authority, so
that what it lacks in its own nervous control may be partially made up
for by parental suggestion and discipline. Of course, as suggested in
a later chapter, the more ideal methods of suggestion, education, and
persuasion should be employed in your efforts to secure obedience and
promote self-control; but, when through either the deep-rooted
incorrigibility of a child, or the inefficiency of the parent's
efforts in the employment of suggestion--no matter what the cause of
the failure of your ideal methods to control temper, stop crying, or
otherwise put down the juvenile rebellion, whether the child has been
spoiled on account of company, sickness or through your
carelessness--when you cannot effectively and immediately enforce your
will any other way, do not hesitate to punish; spank promptly and
vigorously and spank repeatedly if necessary to accomplish your
purpose. You must not fail in the case of the nervous child to
accomplish exactly what you start out to do.

When the little fellow wakes up in the night and cries, see if he
needs anything and administer to him. If you have previously tried the
method of letting him "cry it out," which is usually entirely
sufficient in the case of a normal child, and if such treatment does
not seem to cure him, then speak to him firmly, give him to understand
that he must stop crying, and if he does not, turn him over and
administer a good spa