I agree, it's good to learn life lessons at a young age. Not sure what that has to do with the article about giving a 7 year with autism PTSD after being pinned to the ground by an adult for half an hour.
With proper, consistent, non-extreme consequences to poor choices at home, children can usually extrapolate without the need for the application of "serious" punishments.
That whole "scared into good behaviour" thing is bullshit punishment escalation that's typically only deemed "necessary" when the "discipline" situation at home is random, inequal, unjust, and therefore difficult to understand as a framework in life from the ages where such behavioural patterns are formed.
That's not to say some people won't continue to make poor choices anyway, but scarring children emotionally isn't an appropriate "solution" to that.
One-on-one individualized attention coupled with understanding and empathy is the thing to start with there.