Avram in MD, perhaps that was not really a good example, but there was no punishment involved, merely teaching the child that there are some things they can’t touch (which they can understand from a young age). I would like to point out an observation I have made on my own and other people’s kids: My house has a few decorative ornaments and nice photo frames around. Most of them are out of my kids’ reach. On the whole, my two year old understands that she is not allowed to play with them (when she gets into one of her terrible two’s moods it’s a different story, but these are the exceptions). She has grown up with these things around so they are not a source of play for her. However when I have kids in my house whose parents do not have any of these trinkets around, they touch and play with them and it doesn’t matter how many times I tell them that it’s not a toy – some of these kids are six, seven or eight years old, not two. It’s the same with my piano – my toddler doesn’t just lift up the lid and bash the keys, yet other children much older than here will do that. My point, and the author’s point, is that children can be trained not to touch things that aren’t meant to be played with.
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