How to Raise Wise, Godly Children Training Your Child to Obey Dealing with Rebellion Training in Righteousness Aiming for the Heart

Quick Review on Spanking When to Spank: You’ve told them what to do They understood what you told them They didn’t obey Right Away All the Way With a Happy Heart

Quick Review on Spanking How to Spank (what we’ve covered so far): Never spank in anger Take the child to a private place Tell him what he did wrong Have him acknowledge what he did wrong Tell him how many swats he’ll receive After the spanking is done pick him up and hug him and express your love for him.

How to Spank Your Child* The “How” of Spanking At this point there should be complete restoration between you and your child. If he is mad at you, if he refuses to receive your affection, then something is wrong. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (Heb 12:11 ESV) If discipline has not yielded a harvest of peace and righteousness, it is not finished. * Gleaned from Tedd Tripp, Shepherding a Child’s Heart

How to Spank Your Child The “How” of Spanking Do not allow angry crying or screaming.* The key word is “angry”. The proper application of the rod will produce some crying, but you must not tolerate angry crying, which usually evidences a lack of submission to the parent as well as to the discipline process. A humble spirit and a contrite heart are essential responses to biblical discipline. * Paul and Karen Tautges, Help! My Toddler Rules the House

How to Spank Your Child* The “How” of Spanking Pray with him. Encourage him with the fact that Christ has been given because we are a people who sin. There is forgiveness in Christ. Christ can empower and enable him to obey in the future. There is no more powerful time to press the claims of the gospel than when your children are being confronted with their need of Christ’s grace and power during discipline. * Gleaned from Tedd Tripp, Shepherding a Child’s Heart

How to Spank Your Child Other Considerations When Spanking In order for a spanking to produce the desired results, it must be painful: For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:11 ESV) Often parents will spank their children in a way that is not sufficiently painful, and then they wonder why discipline doesn’t seem to work. While causing pain is important, we must also be careful not to do anything that causes serious injury or permanent damage.

How to Spank Your Child Other Considerations When Spanking Practical suggestions for making sure that the spanking is sufficiently painful to make an impact on the child while not causing serious damage: Any time the Bible mentions the instrument used in discipline it talks about using a rod rather than your hand or some other tool. I recommend that all spanking be administered to the child’s rump, as it seems to be the best place to cause pain without causing serious damage. Be sure to remove any padding (e.g. a diaper) that might end up softening the blow. I recommend that a swat be administered while the child bends over (i.e. not running away).