I need help with a psych question.?

Question

What does the statement "Spare the rod, spoil the child." mean?
Once I know what it means I have to decide if I agree with it or not.
Thanks.

Answer 1

The philosphy behing "Spare the rod, spoil the child" is that children who face no physical punishment or consequences will become spoiled with such a deterrant or conditioning.

I think to confuse spanking a child with child abuse is a bit extreme. Young children lack the cognitive ability to understand danger and consequences. Spanking as a discipline is effective as much as Pavlov's experiement were in conditioning.

The goal is to condition a child who otherwise would not understand or heed warnings. For example: if my 20-month old child pulls from my hand and starts to run towards an open elevator or parking lot, I can establish a conditioned response of displeasure with an easy swat to the bottom or a light smack on the hand. My child will soon understand that pulling away and running from Daddy and Mommy is not good, but she won't know why. At this point in raising her, I am most concerned about her understanding boundaries and conditioning.

It is my job as a parent to know when I can reason with her and therefore, spanking becomes ineffective and ridiculous (probably 3-4 years old). But I will also tell you than when my 9-year old son is playing rough and leaves my 6-year old daughter with a black eye, he appreciates the unecessary pain he caused her when I tan his backside in a loving, but displined way.

Child abuse is quite different. We've all seen parents in the grocery store who yank a child by the arm, nearly out of the socket or who's lives are so filled with tension, stress that they wig out over touching something on a shelf. Of course this is over the top. Parent's who punish or spank when angry are often out of line and out of control as well. This is ineffective and downright frightening for a child. Nothing good is accomplished like that, but let's not confuse that with simple, effective, and at times life-saving conditioning.

Answer 2

"spare the rod" means you hold back from disciplining them....
the next phrase "spoil the child" gives the result of not disciplining your child.

this phrase comes from the book of Proverbs in the Old Testament of the Bible.

I do not think the 'rod of discipline' was ever meant to be a stick to beat children with but many people have taken it to mean that.

I believe the word 'rod' is meant as a metaphor for straight and true direction and guidance for the child.

Answer 3

It means if you don't punish kids when they do wrong, they will become inheretly(by nature) bad people. The Rod refers to a stick which was used to smack bad kids. It a true statement. The psychobabble of the 70s created a generation of soft parents who begat a generation of selfish imbiciles.Now get off the computer, go to your room, and do your schoolwork or you're gonna get a very RED azz...

Answer 4

I guess "if you don't spank a misbehaving child, he will grow in bratty,disobedient kid, the parents on the 50s believes that spanking is the proper way to raised a child in these days. I don't believe on spanking or grounding a child, I will raise up my voice to make a point to a child. I was not raised by my parents , I was raised by nannies. You treat a child,on how you've treated when you are kid,I think..

Answer 5

Child abusers use this slogan all the time citing some imaginery biblical reference. It means if you don't beat the hell out of your children night after night, they'll get spoiled. Child abusers who use this as a defense in court when they are finally arrested for assault typcially get prison time where the same slogan has a different meaning. **you don't hit children. ever!"

Answer 6

If you don't set limits for a child and discipline them when they have disobeyed, then they end up spoiled brats and think they can get away with anything

Answer 7

It means smack their behind if necessary to get the message across