This post was forwarded to me from a friend. It comes from the Desiring God website, it was posted on their blog. You can find it by clicking here.
The Best Way to Punish Your Kids
April 30, 2010 | By: Tyler Kenney | Category: Recommendations
In his autobiography, John Paton, Scottish missionary to
the New Hebrides, reflects on how his father so effectively responded his children's disobedience:
If anything really serious required to be punished, he retired first
to his "closet" for prayer, and we boys got to understand that he was
laying the whole matter before God; and that was the severest part of
the punishment for me to bear! I could have defied any amount of mere
penalty, but this spoke to my conscience as a message from God.We loved him all the more, when we saw how much it cost him to punish
us; and, in truth, he had never very much of that kind of work to do
upon any one of all the eleven—we were ruled by love far more than by
fear. (John G. Paton: Missionary to the New Hebrides, p.17, paragraphing added)