“Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish him with the rod, he will not die” (Proverbs 23:13 NIV).
“Spanking teaches children that the larger, stronger person has the power to get his way, whether or not he is in the right. Some spanked children then feel quite justified in beating up on smaller ones. The American tradition of spanking may be one reason that there is much more violence in our country than in any other comparable nation” (Dr. Benjamin Spock).
“You march yourself right over here, young man!” My Mom said, while waving a maple switch in her hand, pointing at the ground in front of her.
“But Mahhmmm…” I whined, my eyes focused on the implement of discipline that she waved at me.
“Don’t ‘Mahhmmm’ me! You come here!” She repeated.
And so, I began the long walk down the even longer hallway in the ranch style house that was our family home. Mom stood in the kitchen at one end of the hall, having just reached to the top of the fridge to get the switch (That’s where she always kept that despised device). I was standing at the other end of the hall where the Family/TV room was. I kept my eyes on my feet as I slowly trekked down the hallway, not wanting to look at the image of her steely eyes, patting right foot, and “keen” maple switch in hand.
By the way, my Mom taught me the word “keen.” She would say, “If you don’t behave, I’m going to get a keen switch and spank you!”
The dictionary defines “keen” as, “sharp, cutting, quick, intense.” But I didn’t need Webster’s to understand what she meant. The sound of my mother waving her “keen” switch was like the sound of Zorro’s rapier cutting a “Z” in the air. That thing stung like bees!
Back to the hallway scene… I arrived at Mom’s end of the hall. She grabbed my hand and began switching my legs. I danced a jig around her, secured by her grasp. I circled her like a whirling dervish, calling out prayers for forgiveness. She struck me with a combination of corrective words and disciplining pain.
“The… next… time… I… tell… you… to do… something… you… better… do it!” She said while punctuating each word with a strike of her keen switch upon my tender legs.
“Yes Maammm! I prommiisse!” I said with a tearful voice, begging her to stop.
Then she took a seat at the kitchen table, pulling me towards her by the hand she had not yet released. She lay the switch on the table and took me by the shoulders, looking into my eyes.
She said, “Now you know I don’t like to punish you. I love you. But I can’t let you disobey or disrespect me like that. Do you understand?”
“Yes maam.” I stuttered, glad the pain was over and the hugging had begun.
When my mother spoke to me, her words had weight. Her words carried authority. She made sure of that. I’m glad she didn’t read Dr. Spock. She just followed the Word of God. She taught me to respect her words and she taught me to respect God’s Word too.
When Robin and I had kids of our own. We kept a “keen” switch for discipline. Where? Well, on top of the refrigerator, of course.
My mom used the same principal, but she used a keen “flyswatter”. Of coarse on top of the fridge. I used the Mr. Spock approach. I watched Star Trek every day after school and mom would say, “when are you doing your chores”… “WHEN ARE YOU DOING….” I replied, “Mother, such display of emotion is quite distasteful”, and that’s when she went for the refrigerator. Noe when I see that episode of “Trek” I can still feel the sting of corporal punishment… it was pretty good!
Dude, you should’ve gone with “Live long and prosper.” That would have just confused your mom.