Disciplining our children

We’ve often heard the proverb, “Spare the rod, spoil the child.”  This isn’t a direct quote from the Bible, but the idea is certainly repeated fairly often.

In Proverbs 13:24, it says,

He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.

Sometimes, people say, “I love my child too much.  I can’t punish them when they do something wrong.  It kills me to see the pain they go through when I punish them.”

But what Solomon makes very clear is that it’s the person who hates their child who refuses to discipline them.  Why?

We see the answer in his other proverbs.

Discipline your son, for in that there is hope; do not be a willing party to his death.  (Proverbs 19:18)

Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him.  (Proverbs 22:15)

Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish him with the rod, he will not die.  Punish him with the rod and save his soul from death.  (Proverbs 23:13-14)

The rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a child left to himself disgraces his mother.  (Proverbs 29:15)

In short, children don’t know everything.  And they will do foolish things that will not only hurt others, but hurt themselves as well.

Not only will they do things that can hurt them, they’ll do things that can also kill them.

All you have to do to see the truth of that is think about what could happen if you don’t train your child not to run out onto the street.

If you have a child trained to respond immediately when you say, “Stop,” it can save their life if a car is about to hit them.

If on the other hand, they have never learned to obey their parents voice, they’ll continue out on to the street, and it will cost them their life.

Punishing your child can be painful, both for them, and for us.  I don’t like disciplining our daughter.  But I do it for her good.

I’m not saying you have to spank your child, although I’m not against it.

In our house, we use a time out system.  We used it quite a bit when my daughter was 2 and 3 years old.  Now, she’s a lot better about obeying us, and we haven’t had to use it in quite some time.

Hopefully, we won’t have to ever use it again, although I’m not counting on it.

How about you?  Do you love your children enough to discipline them?