i see parents and children interact all the time because i am pretty involved in the Kids ministry here and I find that parents do not punish their child as much as I personally would like them to.

It creates all sorts of problems for people who are not parents but in an authority position, out of the home. But then again, I say let kids be kids and it IS fairly easy to ‘teach’ a kid the rules and how to treat other children, etc.

But at the end of the day you have to balance the long-term and short-term gain of punishing a child. Your potential short-term embarrassment vs. the child’s long-learning to be a decent human being. On the other hand, you so do not want a child who is so scared that he/she does not make decisions and won’t stand up for him/herself.

Parents’ main responsibility after all this is to make the child feel that he/she is the only one in the world…

And when strangers stare heart-brokenly at a mom disciplining a child, you only undermine the efforts of the mom to produce a good-behavioured child. hehe Kids know how to use embarrassment to escape punishment (that’s why they throw tantrums in supermarkets/churches/etc). And anyone who has taken care of kids know this and WILL follow through…

God bless!

admin : Spare the rod, spoil the child. I remember that from the parenting seminar. Gee, now I wish I paid more attention.