Sitting in the driver's seat observing this lesson in discipline was quite gratifying. The beautiful thing about children training children is that the kid trainer is reinforcing his own commitment to order and discipline as he enforces the rule of law upon his younger siblings. The ramifications are astounding. It is the difference between pounding wheat into flour with a wooden mallet and grinding it in a water powered gristmill. Children training each other when you are not present is like the wonder of perpetual motion.
Children learn by emulation.
They will mimic your patience, firmness, concern, and repeat the very words in the exact same tone as you have used when disciplining and training them. One of the marvelous wonders of this is that as they come into the chain of command the children come to appreciate your role as guide and instructor and they more readily accept authority over them. They learn to assume the subordinate role just as they expect the same from those under them. The children all become a part of the cure rather than a part of the problem.