Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-08-01

at last catching up with thi
Bible. without scientific termi'
nology. with neither statistics no
surveys, the Book Of Proverbs
xiii.24. simply states. =. h
that loveth CHS son) chasteneti
him .betimes."
Punishment Constructive
It is significant that the Wort
"chasten" is employed here fol
this means: ITO correct by pun
ishment; to purify by freeing
from faults" 1t is thus cleal
that the Bible from earliesI
times viewed punishment as con
structive, its purpose not venge'
full but helpful. designed to fret
the child from faults and bettel
to prepare him for q happy life
The hot stove is an example
Of constructive punishment. I
you touch 1t. it burns you. Thu
you learn at an early age not Il
touch a hot stove. The punish.
ment is part Of the act itself
and you save yourself q lot Of
burned fingers.
II parents are to use punish
ment constructively for theil
children's good. DR.. Dybwad
suggests five guide points:
/. Punishment should have q
time relationship to the wrong
lful act. If q 14-year-old Cir
come home late from q dance
the parent can impNse the pun
Iishment of staying home from
the next dance. But with @
Ithree-year-old. there can be nc
such time lapse. II he Is pun
Iished an hour after the wrong
Iful act. he may already miss the
connection between 1t and the
punishment. Thus the educa-
lltional value Is lost,
i Related Penalties
h 2. A subject relationship
makes punishment more con-
lstructive. II a child has messed
up his sisters room. a logical
punishment is to clean 1t up
III q child has broken q window
mot by accident but wrongfully
Ia related punishment might be
! to do enough chores to earn
money to pay for. it.
1 Even spanking may have q
;Isubject relationship. If a child's
!. Imisbehavior has taken the form
,Iof physical violence ~ such as
!. beating up his little brother -
4 then the physical force Of a
l spanking might well meet the
tItime honored requirement OF
|, Iletting the. punishment At the
crime.
3. The dignity Of the child
| should be preserved. No matter
.Iwhat form a punishment may
take, It always must hinge upon
1.-THE fact that one continues to
J love the child as much as ever
lit is the wrong doing which Is
mot loved. And the child must
understand this.
ia. The parent-child relation
ship must remain unchanged
Naturally. no child is going to
like punishment any more than
the parent likes admiflistering 1t.
But If the parent can help his
child to see that punisialnent is
part Of the duty Of parenthood,
THAT, in effect, 81 punish you
because ! love you.s" then the
child will feel neither rejected
NOR unworthy because Of it. He
will accept punishment as
whats coming to him" and will
recognize that his parents ad-
minister 1t out Of loyalty.
Don't Just Threaten
I 5. If punishment is necessary,
then punish-but don't perpet-
ually threaten to do so. The
constant threat Of punishment
makes q child insure of Just
where he stands. A punishment
quickly and decisively admin
. istered does far more good than
the overworked line, Johnny, If
!, you do that again, I swear I'm
| going To-"
:. In the non-punishment era
) we went overheard In letting
children express or "act OUT
whatever they wanted to: we
didn't want them to be ire
pressed" But we have been
Isurprised--and shocked-to see
that some Of the acting out is
; worse than the repression.
Today a healthy balance Is
being sought. At the Children's
Village. a school for problem
youngsters at Dobbs Ferry. N. Y,
a staff member stated. I'VE are
moving from indulgent permis-
; siveness to benevolent flrmness. /"
T0morrow-Authority won't