Shepherding a Child's Heart

by Tedd Tripp

It Doesn’t Work This objection requires further examination of a parent’s specific practice. Years of pastoral experience have persuaded me that cases of the rod not working can be summarized as follows: A) The primary reason spanking can be ineffective is spanking in anger. Children will not willingly submit themselves to the authority of an angry, out-of-control parent. There is an innate sense of justice in a child; they will inwardly resist submitting their hearts to a parent who bullies them. They may cower. They may even respond to the punishment out of fear, but they will not willingly place themselves under the authority of a parent who disciplines in unholy anger. B) Inconsistent use of the rod. The child never knew what would elicit a spanking. Therefore, he was always testing the parent. C) Failure to persist. Some folks never try anything long enough for it to work. They give the rod a couple of days. Their children are not transformed overnight. They give up in discouragement. D) Failure to be effective. I have witnessed spankings administered through a double layer of diapers to a child who never stopped moving long enough to know he had been spanked. The spanking was ineffective because the parents never made the rod felt.