Ecc 11:9 Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.

Do your own thing, but be sure that God will ultimately do His! Over and over again in the Scriptures do we find the principle of sowing and reaping affirmed. If you sow, and you will, either good seed or bad, the day of harvest will come and God will have the final word.

Sometimes the silly little things we laugh at in children are things that, if continued will lead to bad judgment and bad actions later. It may be a display of temper, rudeness, talking back, even using ugly words, but whatever it is, it will come back to haunt us if we are not very careful to correct it.

I don’t mean making a mountain out of a molehill. But simply to explain to a child why so and so is not an acceptable thing to say or do, and that Jesus would not approve.

I had a recent experience with one of our six grandsons the other day when his family was visiting papa and grannanny. He wanted something and his mother said “no”. He then in a pouting and disrespectful and whiney way, talked back to her.

I make it a habit not to interfere with parental correction, but I broke the habit to say to the child, “You are not permitted to speak that way to any adult in our home. His mother sent him to time out, which was in a chair on the porch where the rest of us were sitting. I love the boy, and said to him, “Son, you should go over to your mom, put your arms around her and apologize for your action. He walked over and said in an insincere tone, “sorry”. We explained to him that it was not acceptable.

I then suggested that he be sent to a room where he would be alone, so he could think about what he had done. Understand that he has just entered the first grade at school, so I said to him, “Tomorrow, when you get to school, I want you to be as rude to your teacher as you were to your mom.” He just shook his head “no”.

I then told him that no one would ever love him more than Jesus, but Jesus was displeased, and that no one would ever love him more than his parents and they were displeased, so I continued, “Why would you treat those who love you most, better than those who could not love you as much?

He ran to his mom in tears and apologized.

Aren’t we silly when we fail to teach our children that offending mom and dad IS an offense to the Lord? Proverbs 20:11 says, “Even a child is know by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right. 12 The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made even both of them.”

Proverbs 19:18 says, “Chasten thy son while there is hope and let not thy soul spare for his crying.”

It is the rod and the staff that comfort sheep: the rod of the Good Shepherd is for correction and the staff is for direction for the children of God.

It is my personal conviction that God padded the fanny so that spanking may hurt, but do not permanently damage. It may get blue, but God says, “He that spareth his rod hateth his son; but he that loeveth him chasteneth him early” Pr 13:24.

Again, Pro 20:30 The blueness of a wound cleanseth away evil: so do stripes the inward parts of the belly.

My advice is to never use your hand nor a belt to punish – always use a neutral object such as a wooden spoon or a paddle. It should hurt, but not damage.

When I taught high school, I once had to paddle a couple of boys. They didn’t think “Dr. Phil” as they called me could do much. I gave each two swats and believe me it got their attention. I then said, “I do not ask anything of you that I do not do myself. I study hard for this class and expect you to do the same. I show respect for you in the class and I expect the same in return.

NOW I will bend over and let each of you give me two swats. “No way, Dr. Phil!” Yes way, I replied as bent over the desk and said, “Give it your best shot, I did.” Those guys (football players) let me have it, but for the life of me I would not have complained. The point is that if they are to learn well, we must live well before them. I never see those guys that they don’t hug me and say they love me.

If correction and direction were easy every one of us would do it, but it is the very reason we are living in such a violent and disrespectful world. When parents are out of control and do not impose self discipline, they cannot expect screaming at another person, especially a child to work.

“Nuff said”

Oh, one more thing - it is God's way or man's way - the choice is yours so don't argue. A parent who fails to discipline firmly in love will pass on a more difficult job to society - in school, church, employment, military, or PRISON!

BLESSINGS!