When parents threaten their children with a certain punishment for misbehaving, provided that the punishment is appropriate and within the limits of sharee‘ah, and the child is deserving, it is essential that they implement the punishment.
While the parent has many functions to fulfil e.g. protector and one showing love, a very important role and function of the parent which serves to develop the child’s discipline and behaviour is that of ‘figure of authority’.
If the parents fail in administering their threat, the child will lose his respect for them as the ‘figures of authority’ in his life. He will view his parents as people who make empty threats because they cannot stick to their word and have a weak resolve.
Apart from the harm caused by the child losing respect for his parents, they are further harming him by setting a bad example – the example of somebody who does not keep to their word.