There’s A Middle Ground When Disciplining A Child, American Parents Need to Find it

In my mother’s house, discipline meant to control, as it did for most parents at the time. Discipline was physical and intense, a one size fits all program, administered at a whims notice. The suspense of not knowing when or how discipline would be administered and for what reason exactly made for the perfect anxiety-ridden atmosphere. What made it worse was my mother's temper, which was like kerosine when mixed with the fuel of her frustrations. There was no such thing as a forgotten offense. And in the event that the chaotic nature of the scene placed the wrong person on the receiving end of the right punishment, well that was pre-punishment for a future infraction, and there would certainly be future infractions. As far as my mother was concerned, we had it easy. We had the necessities, food, clothing, and shelter, a solid two-parent home, and parents who cared immensely about us, whoppings were just a part of the package, how else would we learn to be obedient? After all, she’d survived far worse forms of discipline (try a butter knife to the wrist for reaching with the wrong hand), and if she turned out “alright” so would we. But “alright” wasn’t a measure of wellness or prosperity, more like a pulse check.

The Latin origin of the word discipline is Disculpus, which simply means to teach. It’s in…