“Youth is wild, and requires many governors, teachers, directors, attendants, and tutors; and after all these , it is a happiness if it be restrained. For as a horse not broken in, or a wild beast untamed, such is youth. But if from the beginning, from the earliest age, we fix it in good rules, much pains will not be required afterwards; for good habits formed will be to them as a law.” St. John Chrysostom
As I was driving through a small Mexican town near Guadalajara many years ago, I noticed a young man trying to tame a wild young horse…it looked like a mini rodeo and it seemed that the horse was not going to let up, but eventually it calmed down and fell into line. There is no reason why tough love cannot still have plenty of love involved…my parents bucked me and broke me but I always knew that their motivation was one of love and I have no complaints!
