gentlest-manner

Updated: May 31, 2025

When there is medicine to be taken, do not put the child in misery for half an hour while you resort to all sorts of arguments, and perhaps artifices, to bring him to a willingness to take it; but simply present it to him, saying, "It is something very disagreeable, I know, but it must be taken;" and if it is refused, allow of no delay, but at once, though without any appearance of displeasure, and in the gentlest-manner possible, force it down.

Jacob Abbott - Gentle Measures in the Management and Training of the Young: Or, the Principles on Which a Firm Parental Authority May Be: Established and Maintained, Without Violence or Anger, and the Right: Development of the Moral and Mental Capacities Be Promoted by Methods: in Harmony with the Structure and the Characteristics of the Juvenile: Mind