24 He that spareth the rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him correcteth him betimes.
Proverbs 13:24
Parental discipline without love is usually mere brutality; parental love without discipline for a young child is usually a disaster.
Down Memory Lane
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
It’s the justice and mercy relationship in micro. Justice not tempered by mercy can be totally brutal and savage, but mercy without justice is nothing but enabling bad behavior and getting more of it. This is running amok in schools these days.
It’s interesting because my parents took the opposite approaches with me and my younger brother. I got the rod with the understanding of why, my brother got the permissive side. I turned out tougher; he turned out entitled. Go figure.
Sadly I work with some toxic narcissists who obviously never had their behinds paddled and their spoil brat behavior shows the lack. I fear for my industry with people like that sometimes in charge. Corporal punishment as a child enabled me to follow orders on the submarine and later in commercial nuclear power, and those orders have time and again saved my life from doing some very foolish and irresponsible action.