Previous Story
Spare the rod and spoil the child
|
Posted on Jul 07 2011
I recently read about a mother who was arrested for hitting her son. I don’t know all the facts but it was obvious her son was not a child but a teen. I’m sure the mother had a reason for hitting her son and he may have even deserved it if his response to his mother was belligerent and/or disrespectful.
The problem is, her actions were not a form of punishment; slapping and hail pulling is assault and the officer did his job. She didn’t try to spank him, she assaulted him but I would like to believe the mother still loves her son very much.
After raising children of my own and helping to raise thousands of other people’s children I would like to offer this bit of wisdom in child rearing. Spare the rod (switch or belt) and you will spoil the child—meaning you should use corporal punishment while they are a child, not a teenager because if they haven’t gotten it by the time they are a teenager, more than likely they are going to have to learn the hard way!
I have seen too many students in my classroom that didn’t get the proper home training to respect others, especially adults, and they have very poor socialization skills. This is due to a lack of discipline and home training—if they can get away with anything at home they will try the same thing away from home. Children need to be taught self-discipline and you won’t have to discipline them when they become a teen.
The teachings in the Bible are the correct way to raise a child, so don’t be afraid to use the rod while they are a child and you don’t have to hit that hard. The rod may not be acceptable to everyone but I can tell you it worked for me and I have even learned to appreciate the spankings I got from my mother—I call it tough love.
I never had to spank any of my children past third grade. So parents, if you want a good child to grow up that will always have respect for you and others then start teaching them while they are a child because it is too late to try and beat it into them once they become a teen. I hope this bit of wisdom will help some parents and anyone that wants to argue and get ugly with me on this need to know you will be arguing with Bible’s teaching, not me.
[B]Ambrose M. Bennett[/B] [I]Kagman[/I]
