The Rod

I'm willing to go out and take a wild guess that none of us enjoy being disciplined. Discipline takes many forms, be it getting grounded by parents, getting reprimanded by a boss, or being handed a ticket by a police officer for going over the speed limit. But at the same time, we can't deny that the discipline is there for a point and 9 times out of 10, it'll be beneficial to us in the long run. Discipline is meant to help us by keeping us from making that mistake or committing that crime again. Some of us may have heard a phrase getting at this exact point: "Spare the rod, spoil the child."

After some research, I found out this phrase may actually be based off a proverb from the Bible: Proverbs 13:24 states that "He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes." Or, in modern day vernacular language, "A parent who doesn't discipline their child hates their kid (and doesn't want them to be successful when they grow up), and the parents who love their kid will discipline them diligently."

These statements are quite true if you think about them. A kid who grows up with everything their way and is never punished will be a spoiled brat during childhood and a jerk when they're an adult. So, based on what I've laid out, we should always discipline our kids to keep them from becoming narcissistic jackasses. But, be careful! There are definite drawbacks if you discipline them in an incorrect way/over discipline your child.

Too much of any good thing will turn it into a negative. Food is necessary for nourishment but eating too much food will make you obese/ overweight, bringing on an onslaught of health problems. Medicines are meant to heal ailments we might have but taking too much of any medicine will cause severe side-effects and even cause you to overdose. It is even possible for a person to drink too much water. You know, that clear liquid that we all need to stay hydrated and survive? If you drink too much too quickly (getting something called hyponatremia), causing the sodium in your blood to become too diluted. It can cause confusion, headaches, nausea and bloating, and in severe cases, can even lead to seizures, organ failure and death.

I remember coming to a realization a little while back that really resonated with me and played/ plays a big part on my life today: Stricter parents can make their kids more obedient and better people in the long run, and I'm all for strictness when it produces that result. However, sometimes it won't. Sometimes, it will just produce sneakier kids who will try to do the things they see other kids doing, just behind their parents’ backs. This was what happened to me.

My parents are quite strict. I like to use my made-up term “helicopter parents on steroids”, except the helicopters are always dropping a big “Nope, you can’t do that” sign in front of me whenever I try to hang out with friends, go out to see a movie, etc. I had gotten pretty tired of this, hence why I decided to secretly go on a ride in my friend’s truck, which ended up producing the result of countless injuries and a lost year of my life. Discipline your kids and keep them from doing blatantly stupid thing, but don’t overdo it. You may end up with the exact thing you were trying to prevent. Don’t take the rod and put it in a rocket to Jupiter, but don’t beat your kid with the rod until they’re black and blue and have so many lines they look like Number 5, 1948 by Jackson Pollock. Know how to discipline!