Children are works in progress, and their mistakes often reveal their emerging character. A child who lies to avoid hurting someone's feelings is struggling with honesty but motivated by compassion. A child who argues over a rule may be developing a sense of justice. Patient parents look at the grain of the mistake—what underlying impulse drove it?—rather than only at the surface infraction. This doesn't mean excusing everything, but it means seeing the child's imperfection as information, not just as an offense. When we understand the kind of error, we can correct more wisely.