Claim. Parental discipline is justified only when the love and concern surrounding it are greater than the punishment itself.
Elaboration. SMM permits chastisement but requires that “love must always accompany it” (CSG 4.9 §5, 34-164, 1970.9.6). A child who is struck with less love than punishment only resents the parent; a child who feels greater love can be turned back from wrongdoing. The same section compares this to God disciplining His beloved children while carrying deeper sorrow and concern. Discipline, then, is not a parental right exercised from irritation. It is a difficult form of love, and its legitimacy depends on whether the child can meet more love after correction than before.