Slice of Laodicea

The power of the nanny government in the United States is getting stronger. The latest comes from the People’s Republic of Massachusetts where someone has proposed banning spanking. Here’s the story from ABC News.

I feel truly sorry for the young moms and dads today. Many of them are, in a word, clueless. Whether it’s a church service where the father of the family sits helplessly and passively by while his four-year-old disrupts the sermon for the entire church, or the doctor’s waiting room where a 2-year-old kicks and hits at his mother, or whether it’s a restaurant where an entire meal is ruined by the out-of-control savages at the next table, the results of lack of discipline of children is everywhere today. It goes a long way in explaining a culture where children are increasingly looked upon as a heavy burden that ought to be avoided altogether, if possible. When children are not disciplined and trained properly, they are heavy burdens that anyone would want to avoid.

It is sad that these mothers and fathers believe the lie that barbarian toddler behavior should be the expected norm. Toddlers are barbarians, but it has been given to parents to train them into civilized human beings. That’s what loving discipline is for. My husband and I used to get questions about how in the world we got our 18-month-old to sit through church (and I might add that this was without huge bags of toys, snacks, juice, etc.) Years ago, when I was a single parent with two preschoolers, I was also church organist. My little boys had nobody with whom they could sit in church on the front row, so I trained them to watch my face for cues. The sweet little fellows would sit there with minimal wiggling, and I would give them a smile as I sat at the organ. It didn’t take more than a slight frown to get them to stop any high jinks they might be considering. I would always give them lavish compliments on their good behavior.

Why did they obey me? Children have to know that disobedience is going to cost them, and that’s why I spanked. When little ones learn the parameters, they are happier themselves. They have boundaries that are clearly established. Further, they are not under the false notion that the world revolves around them and their whims and emotions. Moms and dads, fully in charge, are a relief to children. There is a calm about children raised in homes where there is discipline and child training that comes from knowing what is what. This old-fashioned philosophy, however, is nearly completely abandoned today. That’s why our culture looks like it does, and that’s one reason we have over a million people incarcerated in the United States. I would add that this is why our churches look like they do today, as well. Kids triumphant, kids in charge, kids as idols for their poor hapless parents who then are victimized by the monsters they have created.

Massachusetts will probably pass this idiotic legislation, and we will see the outrageous spectacle of Christian families being dragged into court as criminals. These brilliant legislators will then penalize the taxpayers for an even larger prison system to control a population that never ever learned in childhood the critical life lesson that disobedience costs. Massachusetts will have exactly the kind of state it deserves.