"Be not hasty to accuse"

A young girl, at service in a wealthy family in New York, was accused of stealing two wine coolers, which had been missed. She was committed to prison where she contracted a disease which caused her death. Recently the family; being about to repair to Europe, commenced packing their plate, when the wine coolers were found, undisturbed.

Deseret News, Vol.1, No. 6 p. 5

As a parent, there has been a number of times where I have come upon a mess made, an item damaged, a treasure missing and I assemble my kids to interrogate them as to the guilty party. They immediately begin blaming each other and at times one particular child blames everyone else in turn. This sign of deception among others often indicates the true guilt but at times, despite my best detective work, I end up punishing the wrong person and the truth eventually emerges. These are times when I feel I am at my lowest as a parent and begin to doubt my abilities in trying to dispense justice in the zoo that is often my house.
When I think about these times when my parenting has not been at its best, my mind returns to a dream I had when Samuel was just a little boy. Back then I had a harder time seeing when a behavior was par for the course with the gave of the child and I was overly hard on Samuel. Not brutal, but jumping on his case for every little thing. In the dream, I was getting on his case for something trivial and he was crying. He was telling me, "But I am just a little boy and I am trying to be good." Ever since that time I have tried to give my children a little more rope when it comes to the small stuff. I still try to help them make better decisions but, I try to not let the little stuff get me riled up. I have had mixed success with this.
I remember reading some old books about how people used to be punished in years passed, especially children, horsewhipping, belts, silent treatment, etc. Makes me feel like I am not so harsh. What is acceptable is often determined by societal norms and even corporal punishment is looked upon today as an ugly truth that is often prosecuted when overly harsh. whatever level of punishment a child receives for their actions, we as parents must never forget, that they are children of our Heavenly Father, just like us, and they are entrusted to us to be raised in this world. We should raise them as He would have us, and remember that he will hold us responsible for ill-dispensed justice. He is merciful and so should we be.