Raising a child is a challenging task of life that is entrusted to people all over the world without an instruction manual. People must learn through experience how to feed, care for, and provide for miniature versions of themselves for nearly two decades in most cultures! Discipline plays an important role in raising a child because most parents truly want what is best for their children and want them to grow up to be responsible, respectable, and successful adults; However, in some unfortunate cases, parents misinterpret the term discipline and end up abusing their children. The question becomes: Is there really a difference between discipline and abuse? And if so, what is it? With education, people can learn to correctly distinguish between discipline and abuse and realize that there is a clear black and white difference between the two. The origin of the word discipline comes from the Latin word disciplina, meaning “instruction [or] knowledge” (“Definition of Discipline,” n.d.). As stated in the Oxford Dictionary, the definition of the word discipline is “the practice of training people to obey rules or a code of behavior, [or] using punishment to correct disobedience” (“Definition of Discipline,” n.d.) . According to WebMD, a website visited and viewed every day by millions of people in the United States, discipline is “the process of teaching your child what kind of behavior is acceptable and what is not. In other words, discipline teaches the child to follow the rules” (“Child Discipline Methods,” n.d.). It even goes on to state that "it seems so simple, yet every parent at one time or another becomes frustrated with issues involving children and discipline" ("Child Discipline Metho... middle of paper...). isorder. Child Psychiatry Quarterly , 17(4), 127-132 Retrieved from http://ezproxy.fiu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/617055710?accountid=10901Narang, DSA mediating dissociation of the intergenerational cycle of child abuse (Order No. AAI3034428, Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences and Engineering, , 5385. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.fiu.edu/login?url=. http://search.proquest.com/docview/619966631? accountid=10901. (619966631; 2002-95010-131). .gov/pubs/factsheets/Young, L. (1964. WEDNESDAY'S CHILDREN). Retrieved November 16, 2013, from https://www.ncjrs.gov /App/Publications/abstract.aspx?ID.=52261