children are not transformed overnight. They give up in
discouragement.
(^)
D) Failure to be effective. I have witnessed spankings
administered through a double layer of diapers to a child who never
stopped moving long enough to know he had been spanked. The
spanking was ineffective because the parents never made the rod felt.
I’m Afraid of Being Arrested for Child Abuse
(^) There is measure of validity to this concern, although it is not
illegal to spank your children. What is illegal is child abuse, but a
properly administered spanking is not abusive. Obviously, in a society
that does not understand the Bible and equates spanking with abuse,
one must be wise. Spanking should be done in the privacy of the
home. It should not be a public matter. I might add here that public
spanking may add the idea of “shaming” to a spanking that should be
a private three-way event—God, parent, and child.
(^) There may be circumstances outside the home in which you
choose to overlook behavior that you would not overlook if you were
at home. Parents have sometimes said to me, “If I make it a habit not
to discipline when we are away from home, my children will know
that and be impossible to handle.” When dealing with young children,
most of the time you will be at home and will have plenty of
opportunities to deal with these issues. You can always leave
wherever you are and go home if the issues are important enough to
necessitate leaving.
The Fruit of the Rod
(^) The rod teaches outcomes to behavior. Consistent use of the rod
teaches your children to develop a harvest mentality; they learn that
they will reap what they sow. Young children must learn to obey.
When disobedience is met with uncomfortable consequences, they
learn that God has built the principle of sowing and reaping into their