This is a difficult time for parents. We actually must allow our children to suffer. The consequences teach the lesson, and the lesson will be remembered. Easy children make this process easy for parents. They accept the consequences and do what must be done.
Difficult children make the process very hard.
The goal is for children to realize that parents enforce rules. If parents can do that consistently, even difficult children will get better at accepting the consequences that they have earned. The trick for parents is to believe that it is the right thing to do. And it is. The following guidelines are reminders of what every parent already knows.