CHILD DISCIPLINE (PART 5)

Why Discipline is Important for Children

In the past episodes we have seen that discipline is a godly idea and God expects us to discipline our children. But how should that discipline manifest?

The Bible says in Proverbs 13:24, “Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them.” (NIV).

There was a time when parents disciplined their children properly. Many mothers and fathers or even other elders, would pinch or spank their children to make sure they understood that bad behavior was not allowed. Today however, many parents just keep talking without acting. Children are smart, and they quickly learn when their parents’ words don’t mean anything, and they take advantage of it. Because of this, many children grow up doing whatever they like, without learning right from wrong. This is called lawlessness in the scriptures.

READ ALSO: WHY DO BABIES DO BAD THINGS?

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When I was younger, I had a friend in primary school. One day, we ran to his house during break time. His mother scolded him from the next room, for something he did, and he responded, “Yes, Mum.” She said some more phrases that all resulted in the same answer from him, but before she said any of them, he whispered the exact words she was about to say to me! He knew everything she was going to say before she said it. This shows that he had heard it all before so many times that he could predict her words—but he wasn’t really learning discipline because there were no real consequences. Talking without action does not help a child grow obedient.

Activating Dad’s Foul Language

Dr. James Dobson, a Christian child psychologist, tells a story of a boy visiting a house where the son told the visiting child to join in jumping on the bed and making noise. The boy basically said, “My father is going to get very angry and shout, but we will continue until he comes in and we will jump under the blankets. He will act like he’s beating me, while saying some really choice cuss (swearing and bad) words.” When the father came, he did exactly what the boy wanted. The boy then crawled out from under the bed and said, “See, I told you.” This shows that the boy knew his father wasn’t really serious about discipline and could deliberately annoy him as a performance for a visitor to hear foul language.

READ NEXT: CHILD DISCIPLINE (PART 6)

Foolishness Deactivator

The Bible says in Proverbs 22:15 (NIV), “Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far away.” When there is no real discipline, children will keep doing the wrong thing.

Many parents today are too soft. They may get angry at their child and shout (rather than give them a punishmsorry ent like kneeling or a spanking), and later they apologize and say things like, “I’m I shouted, you know I love you.” But by then, the child has already learned that their parent is the weakling in their relationship. A child who is not disciplined properly will grow up to be disobedient and disrespectful and always have problems with authority.

Many parents think that children are too young to understand things, and therefore do not deserve to be disciplined, but that is not true. Children know much more than people think. Many a child, pretends to be innocent while knowing many things their parents wouldn’t believe they know. That’s why Proverbs 29:15 says, “The rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a child left undisciplined disgraces its mother.” (NIV)

Now, how much spanking should a parent do? How much is too much? Read the next episode.