To discipline means to teach. To be well disciplined is to have learned to live in accordance with the sensible rules and regulations that society has set up for the behavior of its members. Unless the child learns from each disciplinary situation how better to govern his conduct, effective discipline has not been developed. Parents must accept for themselves the idea that successful discipline results in learning. When they approach situations in which a child must adapt themselves to demands made upon them as learning situations, many problems usually thought of in connection with discipline disappear. Unfortunately, the word discipline has come to have other less constructive meanings. Far too often discipline is thought of as punishment. To many people, to discipline a child means to spank him or use some other method of punishment. Such people consider discipline a way of either keeping a child from doing something or of forcing him to do something. It is the task of parents to build within themselves and within the children with whom they live this capacity for self-direction, based upon an understanding of what is required of individuals in a democratic society. This means learning to act in those ways known to be necessary for the "good life", not for one's self alone but also for others. Developing the capacity for self-discipline in a child is a long, slow process. Much patience is required on the part of the parents. During this development, it is important that the child's self- confidence and comfortable acceptance of himself should never be sacrificed in a disciplinary battle; instead it should be increased through the ways in which his parents meet disciplinary situations. Many parents show a good deal of impatience if the little child does not rapidly learn how to keep clean, eat well, be orderly, and do what he is told. They are so eager for him to achieve these things that they seem to try to push him rapidly through his baby period. They seem also to think that learning to do these things at the earliest possible age will place the child one jump ahead in the competitive race foe success. But expecting too much too early is a common mistake and results in many battles. According to the passage, disciplining a child means   _   for many parents.
developing his capacity for self-direction helping him understand social requirement setting various limitations to his behavior punishing him with one method or another