Lessons I Learned From A Rocking Chair .... With My Mom In It. 

Yep, I got spanked and didn't much like that part of it, but my Mom would always take us straight way over to the old rocker, hold us and explain that, "She loved us enough to spank us if necessary, to help us learn what was acceptable behavior and what wasn't. She said that when we were older, we would understand.

 Of course my reasoning ability wasn't quite developed at that age and I never could quite figure it out. My brother Tim even muttered under his breath one time, during these post spanking- rocking sessions, "Next time I'll just get me a little 'fitch' (switch) and then maybe my Mommie will mind me!"  Another time he reasoned that he would just get his bottom out of the way, LOL.

 Well (smile) many years later when Mom had to sell her home and get rid of much of the furniture, all I wanted was that old rocking chair. See, all I can remember is the love.  And that old ruler, carefully placed above the pantry door for random training sessions didn't leave any scars either, just memories of a Mom who really knew the meaning of loving her kids.

I tried to follow my own Mom's example in disciplining my children. Lana was a smart one, she would stuff her pants with toilet paper before turning herself in.  Sean once set me on a chase throughout the house ..... up the stairs and into his room; then up a ladder and into his little loft. ( He thought I wouldn't fit, but I did.)  I finally caught up with him though, carried him down and we had our necessary "Come To Jesus", moment, after all.  I wasn't laughing at the time but it sure seems funny now. 

 Yep, they didn't get that many spankings, but there were certain occasions where it just seemed necessary. I told them the story of Grandma Mary and what she had told me when I was little and how I agreed with Grandma Mary that sometimes love hurts us both, but certain behaviors, if they were allowed to continue, could hurt them even more.  That old rocker sits downstairs now and I plan to restore it. Every time I see it I remember my Mom and what an amazing, loving parent she was!

 

 I don't think a spanking is always needed.  Discipline is as much teaching and encouraging as it is anything else.  I don't hold it against a parent for administering a spanking if it is done in the right way though.  We, as parents have to have our own, "Come To Jesus" moments, before we can rightly discern how to discipline our kids.