We should give a child some freedom, but not let him become lazy. And we must keep him away from luxury. Nothing makes children more likely to get angry than being raised soft and spoiled. The more an only child gets whatever he wants, and the more freedom an orphan is given, the more damaged they become. A child who is never told "no" won't be able to handle rejection. If his worried mother always dries his tears, and his tutor gets punished for the child's mistakes, that child is being ruined.
We ought to allow him some relaxation, yet not yield him up to laziness and sloth, and we ought to keep him far beyond the reach of luxury, for nothing makes children more prone to anger than a soft and fond bringing-up, so that the more only children are indulged, and the more liberty is given to orphans, the more they are corrupted. He to whom nothing is ever denied, will not be able to endure a rebuff, whose anxious mother always wipes away his tears, whose _paedagogus_[9] is made to pay for his shortcomings.