My children were horrible about settling down and going to sleep.

During the years of their childhood I had a very good friend who believed in the literal translation of spare the rod and spoil the child. She would belt her children to discipline them. She told me that is what I should do.

I tried one time, maybe twice at the most. I didn’t feel comfortable with that method of discipline.

Thank God I had a patient in the hospital who I shared my struggles with. She said that she used to read to her children before they went to bed. 

That sounded much more like my form of discipline. I tried it. I love to read and I loved my children. Snuggling between them at night-time and reading them a story became a treasured time.

I fell in love with the Junie B Jones stories and read many other stories to them. 

Over the years my friendship with that lady ended but I did call her once when our children were teenagers. She admitted to me that she wished she would have had more fun with her children when she was raising them. I admitted that I wish I had disciplined mine with more consistency. 

Nonetheless, to my knowledge both her children and mine turned out well. 

Maybe her children needed her kind of discipline and mine needed my form of discipline. 

For those who abuse their children and justify it biblically  I would like to enlighten you on the “spare the rod” verse. In that verse it is referring to a shepherd’s rod which would guide sheep gently but with consistency. The only time it was used to beat a sheep is if the lamb was about to endanger its life and that was done only to save the life of the lamb.

Be gentle but firm with discipline. Children do best with love as a rod, not abuse.