Expert: Rev. Robert Woods - 2/6/2010

Question
Hello. I heard recently about a method of disipline where a child (usually a year old or over) is placed on a blanket and if the child goes off they are corrected (I assume physically). Is this a biblical way of correcting behavior?

Answer
Blessings and thank you for your question.

I have never heard of this particular practice especially on children so young.  I believe that a parent needs to understand that children are naturally curious about the world around them.  They learn by touching, smelling and tasting things.  However, they also need to know that some things are "off limits" and that parents are in charge.  

W e provide discipline to our children to Produce understanding Prov. 10:13, Drive out foolishness Prov. 22:15, Deliver from hell (Sheol) Prov. 23:13, 14, Produce obedience Prov. 19:18
Develop reverence Heb. 12:8–10.  We must deliever discipline Without anger Eph. 6:4 and in love Heb. 12:5–7

A popular belief today is that people are basically good. An extension of this belief is that children come into the world as morally pure and pristine creatures who are then “socialized” into harmful, hurtful patterns by parents and society.
The Book of Proverbs, along with the rest of the Bible, presents a very different picture of children and child-rearing. Although children are seen as a blessing, they tend toward evil if left to their own nature (Prov. 22:15). For that reason, parents are urged to discipline their youngsters. Neglecting to do so amounts to condemning a child to death (19:18).
Opinions vary as to the best way to discipline children. But disagreements about means must never lose sight of what Proverbs says are the ends involved—to bring a child into adulthood with strong character and the ability to make wise choices (29:15). Whatever the term “rod” means to you as a parent, Proverbs encourages you to use discipline in raising your children (23:13).
Several principles of discipline are found in Proverbs:
• A child needs far more than discipline. In fact, discipline is only one part of a much broader home environment required to set a child on the path toward wisdom, self-appreciation, understanding, and humility (2:1–22; 4:3–9; 15:31–33).
• Punishment for wrongdoing is not only corrective but preventive in that it can steer a young person away from more powerful forms of evil and ultimate destruction (5:12–14; 23:14).
• Correction demonstrates love, whereas lack of it is a form of hate (13:24).
• Discipline is intended to purge children of the inherent “foolishness” that the Bible says they have (22:15).
Discipline is indispensable to healthy child-rearing. But Proverbs also observes that there are no guarantees as to how a child will turn out. Many people see a promise in the proverb, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it” (Prov. 22:6). But like much of the rest of Proverbs, this is not a promise so much as an observation about child-rearing. Children may receive excellent discipline, yet still refuse the path shown them by their parents:
• A child may grow up to be lazy, abusive, or immoral, and thus a cause of shame to his parents (10:5; 19:26; 29:3).
• A child may turn out to be a scoffer who rejects instruction and rebuke, no matter how well intended or administered (13:1).
• A child may grow up to despise his parents (15:20).
• A child might rob his parents and not even see it as wrong (28:24).
• A child may grow up to curse, mock, and scorn his parents (30:11, 17).
Given this sobering reality, God calls us as parents to demonstrate lives of wisdom, truth, and service to our children, knowing that they may or may not choose to follow in that path. Ultimately, no parent can force a child to honor either them or God; that is a choice that each of us makes on our own. We as parents are simply called to do our best and leave the results to God.