Spare the Rod: Pampering the Child has reached new heights of sadistic and barbaric torture of children. A device called “The Rod” is manufactured in Oklahoma, for the sole purpose of spanking infants and children on their bare skin. The device is sold together with specific and explicit manuals such as: “To educate a child” and “Shepherding the heart of a child” [both sold at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble] that recommend spanking babies one year of age or younger.

“The Rod” is touted as the next best thing since sliced ​​bread. It is sold as the ideal tool for child training. Child training? It sounds more like someone is talking about training an animal, but cruelty to animals is considered a crime, so you won’t see “the rod” advertised for training your dog. If a person strikes an animal with “The Rod” as intended, those who administered or allowed the abuse to be administered would be arrested for cruelty.

The ad for “The Rod” cites the following features and benefits:

Characteristics:

o Flexible nylon shaft – leaves just the right amount of bite without injury

o Padded vinyl grip (made for bike handle): easy on parent’s hands and prevents strain on hand/arm muscles

o Balanced: ensures accuracy

o Light: your hand/arm does not get tired during use

o Safety tip: prevent the nylon from developing rough edges

o Convenient: fits easily in a purse or diaper bag

o Affordable – buy one for the kitchen, bedroom, car, wherever

o Unbreakable: will last a lifetime

o Guaranteed: satisfaction or your money back

Benefits:

o Spoons are for cooking

o The belts are to hold the pants

o Hands are for loving

o Rods are for punishment – Proverbs 23:13-14 AND Proverbs 22:15.

Those who believe that punishment is recommended in the Bible, specifically the book of Proverbs, have misinterpreted the Bible. There is a distinction between the practice in the days of King Solomon of beating people on the back and the modern American habit of beating, punishing, and spanking children on the buttocks. The latter is not prescribed anywhere in the Bible. In addition, it is necessary to note that the Old Testament contains passages that could be (and in some cases have been) interpreted as divine endorsements of wife battering, race warfare, slavery, stoning to death of rebellious children, and other behaviors that They are outrageous by today’s standards. As Shakespeare once wrote: “The devil can quote the Scriptures for his purpose.”

Punishment, also known as hitting/switching/spanking/corporal punishment, can weaken a survivor’s immune system according to Dr. Frank Putnam of the National Institute of Mental Health and Dr. Martin Teicher of Harvard Medical School. Putnam conducted studies of 170 girls, ages 6-15 (half had been subjected to ‘corporal punishment’, half had not) for seven years. The abused girls presented symptoms such as:

o Abnormally high stress hormones, which can kill neurons in areas of the brain crucial for thought and memory

o High levels of an antibody that weakens the immune system

Teicher completed a series of brain studies on 402 children and adults, many of whom had been physically abused. His findings revealed that physical abuse creates:

o Arrested growth of the left hemisphere of the brain which can hinder the development of language and logic

o Growth of the right hemisphere of the brain (the site of emotion) at an abnormally young age

The result of a weakened immune system includes deeper and rarely recognized physical side effects such as: vaginal, ovarian, prostate, testicular or breast cancer, PMS, multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, to name a few of the most prominent diseases such as result of surviving physical abuse. Louise Hay in her book, Heal Your Body–The Mental Causes for Physical Illness and the Metaphysical Ways to Overcome Them, cited her own vaginal cancer as an example of a weakened immune system due to physical/sexual abuse and how metaphysical healing can heal the body

Our laws and our cultural values ​​are unequivocal regarding adults who physically attack or verbally threaten adults. Such behavior is recognized as criminal and we hold offenders accountable. So why, when the stakes are so high for society, do we accept the convoluted thinking and excuses of child molesters, all in the name of religion?

Why do we become interested in the needs of children only after they have been terribly victimized, or have become criminals who victimize others?

The answer is not complicated. People cannot empathize with abused children until they can honestly acknowledge their own childhood experiences of mistreatment and examine their parents’ shortcomings. To the extent that they feel compelled to defend their parents and keep their secrets, they will do the same for others. They will look the other way. They will continue to use the misinterpreted Bible passage. By continually insisting that “it turned out okay,” they reassure themselves and divert their attention from deeply unpleasant hidden memories.

That’s why, when someone says, “‘spanking/punishing’ is abuse,” many people react as if a door locked from childhood has been flung open. This unconscious barricaded door has prevented them from committing the most dangerous and unforgivable act of disloyalty imaginable, disloyalty to their parents. They fear that by opening the door to the truth they will fall into an abyss, abandoned and deprived of any possibility of reconciliation with the parents they love. Fear is irrational. Denial, about what was done to you and, now, what you are doing and allowing to be done to this generation, is the present danger and the real sin.

The following books are excellent resources for healthy parenting:

-Case Against Spanking, Irwin Hyman

-No spanking or pampering, Elizabeth Crary

-Instead of Spanking-1001 Alternatives, vol. 2, Ada Maurer

-Discipline without shooting or whipping, Jerry Wyckoff

-A hundred and one alternatives to scolding, yelling or spanking, Alvin Price

We are responsible:

“Those who ignore the past are doomed to repeat it.” -Sartre

“We are not only responsible for what we do, but also for what we don’t do.”

–Voltaire

“The worst way you can choose is to choose none.” –Frederick II

“Every choice we make, every thought and feeling we have, is an act of power that has biological, environmental, social, personal, and global consequences.” –Carolina Myss

It is time to do everything we can to stop the barbaric and sanctioned practice of child abuse, disguised as a biblical mandate.