Does spanking warp the soul?

Today's word from Proverbs --
"Don't be afraid to correct your young ones;
a spanking won't kill them.
A good spanking, in fact, might save them
from something worse than death." (23:13-14, The Message)

The past 40 years or so has seen a great deal of debate over the evils of spanking. Some psychologists through the years have tried to convince us that spanking is outdated, ineffective, or just plain abusive. I'm not an expert on the subject other than the fact that I was on the receiving end of numerous spankings as a child.

Lord knows I gave my parents plenty of reasons to spank me! I was ADHD before that term came to be. Back then they just called my hyper. I wasn't mean and usually I didn't misbehave out of some evil design. But I was unruly and needed to develop self-control. Being a child it wasn't very likely that I would develop such self-control on my own. I needed help. My parents, teachers, principal, and others attempted numerous kinds of discipline including lectures, grounding, loss of privileges, and more. They didn't have a great deal of success with these methods. Thus, spanking came into play (though it wasn't a game I enjoyed). I have to admit that the board of education applied to the seat of knowledge usually got my attention.

Fortunately for my parents, I grew up in an age when parental discipline wasn't viewed as child abuse as it might today. One such occasion comes to mind. When I was about 12 years old I had several friends over to my yard to play. My mom told me to do something (I don't remember what) and I popped off to her, trying to be "big" in front of my friends. What I didn't consider at the moment was the fact that my mom didn't take very kindly to disrespect from her kids. She took out after me and I began to run . . . in sheer terror. I hadn't seen that look in my mom's eyes before, but I was about 99% sure it indicated that murder was about to be committed, and I was going to be the victim. Around the yard we went, again and again. And as we ran she grabbed anything that she came across and flung it like a missle zeroed in on my body. I can't say if anything actually hit me as I was so scared it would be some time before I could feel anything beyond terror. Finally, either she ran out of steam or the thought of prison crossed her mind, and my life was spared.

Was my mother wrong to act as she did? Though she probably regretted her urge to kill, I believe that this particular experience was a valuable lesson for me. First, I think I learned something about the wrath of God from that experience. Second, I knew I had crossed a very big line -- I had shown terrible disrespect for my mother and it was something I never wanted to do again. Third, I knew that I had to restrain myself when I wanted to say the first thing that came to my mind (that actually is something I have to keep reminding myself about). This occasion, plus the many times that I experienced spankings served as strong reminders of what is right and what is wrong. And that's the purpose of spanking . . . to teach a child the boundaries in which a person ought to live.

These spankings certainly didn't kill me, but I believe they saved me from something worse than death . . . a life lived without discipline, without regard for others, and without a true sense of right and wrong! Thanks Mom and Dad for loving me enough to teach me these lessons, even though I may not have appreciated it at the time.