This is the difference between punishment and discipline.

Because she irritated, interrupted, or embarrassed me.I wanted her to begin practicing self-control.I loved her (still do) and didn’t want her to be seriously injured.I might not be watching so closely next time. I wanted to protect her in the future.(The form of discipline matched her maturity level.) I knew she was capable of understanding it.

Why did I hurt her when she was so young? The discipline was immediate and tangible because her brain wouldn’t have processed anything else. It was an action/reaction concept: if I put my fingers here, then I hurt. I disciplined her in the only way her young mind could understand. Parental discipline is like a vaccine: a little pain now to prevent a lot of pain later. I thought of it like a vaccine: a little pain now to prevent a lot of pain later. Yes, I hurt her just a little bit, but way less than if she’d been electrocuted. If I remember correctly, I only had to do this twice before she learned not to put her fingers in electrical outlets. I looked her in the eye, and while squeezing her little hand just until I could see that it was hurting her, I said “no” in my most serious voice.

Of course, we had covers on our own outlets!) I grabbed her hand immediately. When my firstborn was toddling around-less than a year old-she once stuck her finger in an unguarded electrical outlet.

Parenting by Paul David Tripp