Spare the Rod?
Using the rod as a way of disciplining a child has been a common practice in many Asian households. It advocates a disciplinarian style of child rearing that is frown on by most parents nowadays.
I absolutely see no benefit in using the rod even though the older generation SWEARS by it. I have tried using this method on Ryan when he misbehaved but the same ” mistake” was still repeated despite using the cane as a punishment.
There even is a saying ” Spare the Rod and Spoil the Child”. I beg to differ. I rather concentrate on ” Spare the Rod and Educate the Child” instead.
Using the rod only instills a sense of temporary fear in the child as he cringes at the sight of it and stops his unsatisfactory/unwanted act the instance the rod comes into view.
It is not a long term solution as there are many cases of kids being immune to it and it the parent has lost it’s initial purpose of being a deterrent to inappropriate behaviour/conduct.
Children learn from every action you make. I have seen Ryan smacking his brother while scolding him for being naughty and taking his toys away without asking. This is definitely not the way I want for him to behave towards his younger brother.
The repercussions of this method of punishment is that the signal that you are giving to the child is that ” I am bigger/older than you and with this physical/violent act you must conform to what I want you to do”
This is a real NO-NO as it is saying that being physical with others will get you what you need.
There are other methods of discipline which can be used to educate a child but I will leave it for subsequent posts. 🙂
