Discipline 101

This is another 18 month old. His birth name is Zachary. We changed the name of his older brother from Andrew to "tornado" shorlty after his stint with colic. Last month we decided Zachary needed a new name as well. We settled on "Tsunami". The thing to remember with discipline, that has helped me as I have beat the daylights out of tiny, little boys with a clear mind, is to imagine that same rebellion in 5 years, 10 years, or 20 years. It is a whole lot easier to smack the hand of a baby when he hits his brother than try to bend a teenager over your knee after he tells you to shut up. Honestly. Gordon Macdonald wrote a good book called the "Effective Father" that I follow when it comes to discipline. He spanks for discrespect, disobedience and hurting (physical or emotional through teasing). I give pops with a big paint stirer from Hom Depot (the kind for 5 gallon buckets). My biggest probelm is consistancy because, let's face it, I'm am lazy and to discipline all day, every time, is flat out exhausting. Most important of all is how the discipline ends for us. We have been committed to reconciliation. After every pop we never leave the room until our kids say sorry and we tell them that we forgive them with a hug and kiss. The Bible seems pretty clear that God gives discipline to those he loves. If you want to love your kids well, teach them what is right and wrong. Teach them what you value, let them know some small consequences to disobedience now rather than the kind of lessons we had to learn later. If nothing else in this rant seems to stick, chew on this...my dad never gave me a spanking (although he threatened once during a situation not fit to discuss on this blog). But seriously...you want kids like me?