It’s reached a point of saturation such that it can now be applied ironically to unwanted things: Herpes, the gift that keeps on giving. But books really are gifts that keep giving.

Giving an object lesson, the parent acts out wrongdoing that the adolescent has been doing to them with the hope the teenager will feel what that treatment is like and stop it.

Editor’s Note: This article previously appeared in a different format as part of The Atlantic’s Notes section, retired in 2021. Refrigerator magnets are small, cheap, durable, colorful and ...