Most, if not all, parents have been there: The kid does something so infuriating or naughty that it sorely tempts drastic punishment to teach him or her a lesson.

Like maybe leave him or her stranded on a mountain forest road for just a few minutes. But our better angels, usually and wisely, advise otherwise.

Alas, the angels fell silent for the parents of Yamato Tanooka, a 7-year-old boy who was left behind in a forest in Hokkaido, Japan, for doing just that. What was meant to be a few minutes of discipline turned out to be a weeklong search for the boy, an unsettling situation that made international news.

All came to a happy ending Friday, when Yamato was found, relatively healthy, in a military training hut near the forest. Let’s hope this episode sets both boy and parents on a better path. After all, the teen years await.