The never-ending work of a father is to teach his children that their actions have consequences. They might not be immediate consequences, but they will happen.

This is why we spank at very early ages: to add immediate consequences to certain actions. As they get older, we hope they have internalized this to some extent, but this work never ends. You must show them where their actions lead through conversation, teaching, and other forms of punishment.

But let’s be honest. Even we aren’t great at realizing this truth. We refuse to take consequences into account when we eat that extra donut or when we stay up late at night binging Netflix.

Things will eventually catch up to us just as they will eventually catch up with our children. The household is a place where children should get small consequences for their actions so they can avoid the big consequences when they are older. You are saving their life. You are looking into the future because your children can’t do it for themselves yet.

If you fail to provide them with these small consequences, you are setting them up for a spectacular failure.

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