I want to believe that not all children of past generations were physically disciplined and a lot of them still grew up to be responsible and well disciplined. Physical discipline is not the only form of discipline although the Bible stated it clearly that we spoil the child when we spare the rod. It doesn't mean using the rod at all times.
And let's be honest, some of our parents in the past generations went extreme in not sparing the rod because a lot of them forgot how to use their words and their own action to teach the children too. The same Bible says fathers (parents) should not provoke the child to wrath, God knows there will be parents who use their rods wrongly.
No, I'm not against parents using the rod to discipline their children. Even I will make good use of it when it gets to my turn, deciding not to use it at all is where problem will come because the Bible also says, foolishness is bound in the heart of a child and a rod will take it away. We want wise children growing to become adults so.
What I am against is parents using the rod as a way for them to relieve themselves off the strong emotion they are feeling and not really about correcting or disciplining the child. I'm saying this because I've seen parents who almost killed their children in the name of discipline when in real sense, they have anger issues not yet worked on.
Parenting is more than disciplining by rod, what parents say and what parents do, goes a long way in driving off the foolishness in the hearts of their children. We all know there are children who had constant physical discipline but still turn out irresponsible as adults because the parents failed to teach what exactly they were correcting.
And of course, there are the children who got all the discipline they needed through physical disciplinary actions. The difference is simply the parents doing more than just the rod on the kids, focusing on correcting them in love and wisdom.
The decision to not physically discipline kids nowadays, is both good and bad, depending on what exactly the parents are replacing with that form of discipline. And from what I've seen, a lot of parents don't have the time and even the wisdom to teach these children the right thing to do. It would breed irresponsible kids, no doubt.
Our generation of kids are this way because a generation evolved, saw beyond just physical discipline and there are the parents in the generation who still raise responsible children without the physical discipline. But I don't think using the physical discipline alongside other forms of discipline would cause kids of nowadays to become traumatised, if done right.
In conclusion, there is no right or wrong way to raise a child that you want to grow up to be a good representation of you and even better than you. Just decide that you want your child to grow wiser and better than you, you will find the right ways to go about it and it starts with being the wise and better parent for the kids to learn from.
Image used is AI generated.