Occasional punishment and reward may be useful when linked as a consequence to behavior. There is a big difference between saying, “Behave yourself. If you don’t stop crying, Santa Claus will not come to our house” and “You deliberately broke that toy. Now you have to go to your room.” There is a big difference between saying, “If you stop your crying, I’ll buy you an ice cream cone” and “I really appreciate your help. Let’s go out for ice cream cones!”