Spare the rod, the child won’t be spoilt
Firstly, I’d like to point out that I was raised in an African household in Africa and so I know perfectly well what "the rod" looked and felt like. For every experience I had with "the rod", I received the incentive to talk- extensively even-about it. That out of the way, the use of "the rod" and variations of it -the belt, whip, and in advanced cases, the pipe, "turning stick", slippers- are tools employed since ancient times in the delicate duty of parenting. Indeed, for almost as long as mischievous, obstinate and pesky children have been around, caning, whipping, whooping and spanking have existed as antidotes to general juvenile misbehaviour. The sheer age and ubiquitousness of the practice is sufficient proof of its effectiveness for some, but at what point does the use of "the rod" leave the realm of loving parenting to outright abuse?
Basically, as with every human, parents (and in some African societies at least, other members of society) have a propensity to misuse / overuse their power, including the power "of the rod". Severe bodily injuries, emotional and mental trauma and in extreme cases, death have resulted from instances of "discipline" supposed to be administered through use of "the rod". Generally, there is nothing going in favour of this practice more than the holy book, (or one of the holy books) the bible. With quotes like "the rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame", "He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes", "Folishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him", for some individuals, merely citing one or more of these verses justifies the whooping, caning, slapping of a child at the slightest provocation. It'd seem appropriate that I even now chip in the drive behind this whole write-up; scars on my little cousins arms. The poor kid said they were from a beating he received from his father. Even more ridiculous was the reason for the beating- the tired boy slept through a religious event. He's had these scars for a while now and it's shaping up to be a permanent feature of his body. The sight of his tender skin imprinted with the ugly scar set me writing.
Many schools have prohibited the whipping of schoolchildren as a form of punishment or discipline. In fact, it wouldn't be far from the truth to say that the use of "the rod" is generally regarded as barbaric and archaic by modern parents (the "gen z" parents most especially). Then of course comes the obvious retort; "That's why there are so many spoilt kids these days". Equally obvious too is that discipline corrects the misbehaviour of kids, not necessarily the type of "discipline" with a nice tendency to inflict bodily harm, emotional trauma and even death. Many who grew up with some stick always lurking around in the house for caning (bulala as my dad called it) also are only too aware that another effect of consistent use of "the rod" is the hardening of the subject (Something having to do with the all too well known rule of adapt or die, those who didn't get killed by "the rod" got used to "the rod"). Some guardians have made use of deprivation to discipline children, "the naughty corner", Grounding and a host of other disciplinary actions that actually elicit thoughtful remorse in the child (depending on the age of the child) as opposed to the treatment of little, highly impressionable human beings like asses and other beasts of burden.
(Admittedly, I have never parented children and do not claim to have experience in disciplining them but I've spent a lot of time around children -family members especially- babysitting and whatnot. I also do have experience in BEING DISCIPLINED.)
