Health & Fitness
Why using the rod is no child discipline panacea
Wednesday July 28 2021
Why do some parents insist on beating their children as a way of disciplining them? Is it a matter of ignorance or is it that the Bible tells us in Proverbs 13:24, ‘He who spares the rod hates his son?’ I am so confused!
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You are right, this is a most confusing subject in part because no one can claim to know all the answers to all the issues raised and certainly many years of parenting later, each family finds the best way of bringing up their children. In this journey, we are mostly on our own.
Let me start off with the good news.
As far as I can tell, and even without a manual on how to bring up their children, most parents seem to get it right most of the time, even though some also make some mistakes on the way. Secondly, it seems that children and their parents are very resilient and many different parenting styles seem to work just fine.
It is also worth pointing out that each child born is unique in all ways and that no two children or families are identical, and therefore the forces that impact child growth and development are as many as there are children and families.
To help me make this point, a short story is in order. A few months ago, we saw a young man who had been abusing alcohol for many years. His parents and siblings were all worried because he was the odd one out. He was the biblical black sheep.
Two older siblings had sailed through medical school…
