scold

She tried to muster the will to scold her pupils for the hundredth time that morning but found she could not.

“Like a big sister who everyone ignores when cooing over the new baby,” she scolded herself sternly.

Under normal circumstances, Penelope would have scolded the children for being disrespectful, although the truth was that she, too, often found Lady Constance to be a rather silly person.

The children had apologized, but clearly they also felt that an injustice had been done, for why should they be scolded for playing matador when the housekeeper was not?

But that would have been improper, and I didn’t want to be scolded for misbehaving.