The only requirements are knowledge of what is good for him, and then _inviolable regularity_ in everything that concerns him.

Under this treatment he will become as "obstinate" in being "good" as the opposite so-called indulgent or capricious treatment always make him in being "bad." There is no reason whatever that he should be walked with or held, that he should be taken up when he cries, that he should be trotted when he awakes, or that he should have a light by night.

Things like this are simply bad habits for which the parents have themselves to thank.

The child adapts himself to his treatment, and it is his treatment that his habits reflect.
During the second half-year--sooner or later in particular cases--the child is ready to begin to imitate.

Imitation is henceforth, for the following few years, the most characteristic thing about his action.
He first imitates movements, later sounds, especially vocal sounds.
His imitations themselves also show progress, being at first what is called "simple imitation" (repeating a distinction already spoken of in the chapter on animals), as when the child lies in bed in the morning and repeats the same sound over and over again.