The missing Pow -Pow-Pow crisis

One day a friend of mine and I were in study hall in high school in a big auditorium that was similar in design to a movie theater with a stage and seats for about three hundred students. Our seats had fold-up desktops in them and the study hall was designed for… well…studying; however I always thought of study hall as a great way to cut up.

One day my buddy and I were in engaged in a little gambling exercise. We were flipping coins and catching them and then without looking at them we would put them on our arm. We would try to guess heads or tails and the winner won the coin. It was great fun; that is until I flipped one rather high and the study hall teacher caught it mid-air. (I still do not know how that big man snuck up on us like that without our seeing him or someone tipping us off.)

Our punishment was to receive a paddling with a wooden paddle in front of the entire study hall. We went up on stage bent over and grabbed our ankles and POW, POW, POW. Ouch!

It still hurts to think of that one and it was doubly bad because the entire study hall was rolling in laughter. Unbelievably I got another one later in the day in my shop class.

Being an amorous kind of guy I decided to weld my initials along with my girlfriend’s on the welding table. I thought it was a very nice gesture and the welding bead was well formed, but my shop instructor was not impressed. He being a shop instructor had a very well made custom paddle complete with a hole in it. POW, POW, POW I had bruises for a week and actually decided to be good for a few days.

While working at Horizon I visited some of New York City’s School cafeterias. It was unbelievable. The kids were the unruliest I have ever seen. They did not empty their lunch trays in the garbage can and place the trays in a stack; they just threw the entire tray along with its contents on the floor. A cafeteria worker was sweeping the trays and garbage along the floor like a zombie as if she did not even notice.

These “students” were dressed like gangsters, some with long shorts that looked like they were designed for someone ten times their size that exposed their backside. Tattoos, piercings, nasty hair including blue, fluorescent maroon colors and of course dreadlocks and grimy clothes were just half of it. To describe them as unruly would actually be a compliment. They were surly, disobedient, loud, obnoxious, you name it. (I have run out of adjectives or is it adverbs? I guess I should have studied more and flipped coins less.)

If these kids were to receive a paddling with a rather large custom paddle with a hole drilled in it for special effects today, the ACLU and the permissive parents and a bevy of NY lawyers would sue the ever loving heck out of NYC. It would be on CNN and the rest of the media and bleeding heart elites would bleed pure blue blood and cry big tears over this serious crisis.

The real crisis however is that parents and schools no longer discipline kids and many of them are turning into little monsters. If this continues, what will the world be like in another decade or two?

The Bible has much to say about discipline and kids. Spare the rod and spoil the child is one that comes to mind, but there are plenty more. We were born with a sin gene and obedience and good behavior are not innate; they must be taught and children must be disciplined.

Herein lies the crux of the matter, how can a loving parent discipline the child that they love so dearly? Worse how could any grandparent in their right mind discipline a grandchild whom they love? Could we be expected to hear a baby cry and after checking to see that their diaper is clean and in order, and that they are not hungry or hurt that we just let them howl? Of if an older child misbehaves that we swat them one?

The Bible states that if you love your child you will discipline them. As a matter of fact the Bible states unequivocally that our heavenly Father will discipline us’ if we disobey His rules and he is our example of how to raise children and everything else.

“Train up a child in the way he should go and when he grows old he will not depart from it”; “Blows that hurt cleanse away evil”, “Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child. The rod of correction will drive it far from him”, so the Bible states. I have not found a reference in the Bible for administering a “timeout” or taking away a favorite toy for a while, or saying “No” over and over, and over and over, and over and over,… and over. Could it be that maybe, just maybe, this will not send the right message? The ACLU says no, but those kooks need to be swatted too!

Proverbs:13:24
He who spares his rod hates his
Son,
But he who loves him
disciplines him promptly.