Spare the rod, spoil the .....

Even if the rod is applied metaphorically, the “reason so many children get spoiled is that few parents dare to spank two grandmothers.” This states not just my displeasure with the practices of grandparents who spoil their grandchildren with unwarranted gifts and excuses for bad behavior, but also the words of Chester L. Marks printed in a Saturday Evening Post magazine of 1960. Even then, apparantly, a wise man saw the approaching decline in discipline and achievement due to laxity in parenting and grand-parenting. My generation of grandparents did not understand the concept of lavishing presents and privileges unearned or undeserved. My parents agreed that success was self-induced. Today, after billions and billions of dollars have been wasted to improve students’ test scores, knowledge continues abate. When I was enjoined with my fellow grade schoolers to memorize the addition and multiplication tables - or else - little could I have appreciated the long term affect of mindless discipline. Perhaps my lifelong enquiring mind resulted from a background of required facts lovingly, sometimes unlovingly pounded into my brain. Grandparents past and present should take to heart the adage, literally or metaphorically applied, that to spare the rod is the spoil the child.