The Judgment of Lord Justice Ward THE RELEVANT LITERATURE

THE RELEVANT LITERATURE

"Home Discipline" was written in March 1972. The sub-title is, I note with approval was: "Law without enforcement is no law at all!" He explained why. "If you don't enforce it, your word means nothing." I shall remember that! In paragraph 12 I found an early example of Berg's attitude to corporal punishment:-

"Why do you think God says, "Spare not the rod for his crying"? (Pr. 19: 18.) They start yelling long before you sock them with rod, because they're afraid of the rod and don't want to be spanked! A lot of these people will scream louder before they are sentenced than afterwards, trying to forestall punishment."

In August 1975 he wrote "Lashes of Love". There was a revealing cartoon showing a man embracing a very young boy. The man was holding a branch ("twig" as it has sometimes euphemistically been called). The "switch" is gnarled where the smaller side stems have been removed. I draw attention to that picture because, as I later set out, it is quite apparent to me that such implements have been frequently used and it is an illustration of the power of the literature to influence behaviour. I must recite several passages. Though its authenticity was questioned, I am satisfied it is part of Family literature:-

"We feel sorry for a child or babe or whoever it may be because they seem to hurt so bad and they yell so loud and you're tempted to stop the spanking a little prematurely before they've really learnt their lesson. But don't rescue them prematurely until you're sure the job is done. Now this may sound cruel to you but it's the truth. ... But with the small children who don't understand an awful lot of reasoning sometimes, you just have to apply the rod. ... They try to scream real loud at first to make you think you're practically murdering them, and the whole neighbourhood too sometimes. They'll get sympathy from the neighbours if they can, so that you won't spank them as hard as they probably know they need it! I use to tell Mom that the time to stop spanking is not when they're screaming, it's when they stop screaming and beg for mercy! I usually used a fly swatter. It's a very nice handy weapon. ... I usually use the handle end, and it does sting, I'll tell you! Sometimes it leaves little red lines too, stripes, but by their stripes they are healed! ... I would start applying the fly swatter, and oh my, how they would scream at first, but then as I really laid it on when they really deserved it, then they stop that loud yelling and then they began to really beg for mercy, I mean sincerely."

"Baby and Toddler Discipline! - begins at 6 months!" was written in October 1983. In it he referred to smacking Techi's hand but he also described how he used corporal punishment when teaching at a high school. There followed this interesting passage:-

"I even had to use a paddle on him a few times. I had a nice great big paddle. I don't know whether you ever saw one of those old fashioned bread boards with a handle, but let me tell you, one whack with that thing and they felt it. ... We believed in applying the rod, and in my case it was a big bread board! Well, I figured it was a little bit heavy, but it was so broad it couldn't possibly hurt'm, but they could feel it and it sort of knocked'm off balance once in a while."

"Child Discipline" was written in March 1976. It was a talk given to Sara when David was 1½ years old. This was his advice:-

"You need to use something to punish kids that doesn't injure them any, but really hurts. My children really feared that fly swatter, I'll tell you! Like the old family belt! ... my Mother always had a little switch handy, like off the tree, a little tree branch. And brother, did that sting ... If he keeps persisting then just swat him good and hard ... You've got to have a rod or a fly swatter or a little stick or belt, something they know really hurts. ... My Mother would sit down and cry with the whip in her hands, "This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you." ... I do think we ought to get up a list of standard rules of chastisement or punishments for children ... but if they persist, sock it to'm! But never with such harsh or severe force as to actually injure, only hurt. Do it in love as the Lord does and if you really love them and they know it and love you, they'll eventually keep your commandments! And everybody will be happier in the end!"

This was republished in 1984.

"Child care Discipline Jewels" seems to have been taken from a collection of previous writings. It addressed the problem that there were different standards of discipline adopted by different families within the home."

"The answer has to be real strict discipline from the very beginning for everyone - adults and children alike! It's important that all the parents and children know and agree upon all the rules the children are expected to obey so that anyone can discipline any of the children and not just the particular mother or father of the offending child! ... Things have to be run like an army because you just can always treat each child individually in a large home with a lot of children, and the more people you have, the more regimented and organised things have to be. ... So our parents who won't discipline their children are just going to have to learn to, and start now! And when they're not with their own child, they shouldn't be hurt or sensitive about his getting a spanking or correction from others! They're just going to have to let the people who help take care of him go ahead and do it because we can't put up with foolishness and rowdiness and defiance in our children! Thank God for the parents and helpers who we have who do discipline and know how to apply the rod and the word. I don't know why anybody would mind their child being disciplined. You know that every smack they get is helping them to be a better child in the future and it's really worth it all. Some people go to the extremes of course and it's all unjustified or harsh, that's something different, but that shouldn't have to happen in our Family! Children really need to get disciplined when they are young, and especially toddlers! ... You have to use discipline no matter what age they are. ... And that is also one of the worst things you can do - to give punishment that is too severe, too harsh, more than the crime or disobedience really justifies. ... The best way is the love way! The best way is the gentle way and not the breaking way and the force way or the legal way of the old law! The best law is love ... if the gentling and persuading, the love and the reasoning and the leading, the teaching doesn't work and they're still stubbornly wilfully disobedient, then you've got to apply the rod (Maria: Lord help us all to find the right balance in these important matters of disciplining our children)."

Finally "Dad on Kidz Correction" dated October 1985. Where he wrote:-

"Whoever's going to be teaching teenagers is going to have to learn that corporal punishment, except as a last resort, is not the answer to our kind of teenagers ... There are other ways you can correct them, I don't even like to use the word "punish" them. That's what chastening means, it does not only mean punishment, it means child training. The thing that really hurts them the worst is first of all just to displease, they don't really like to displease, and the next worst, to be shamed before others! To have their misdeeds brought out in the open before you is bad enough, but if they go further, to deal with them in front of others is even worse ... The rod of chastisement is not wrong but it is the spirit in which it is wielded that counts ... Children need discipline, but it must always be tempered with love and mercy. ... Those who can't be controlled through love have to be controlled through fear. Love never fails! If it's real love, it won't fail even if it's applying the rod in love. I think you should try everything else you possibly can before applying corporal punishment. But if all else fails, you just have to whack away! What else can you do? You have to use force. God does! ... He'll whack away until you repent!"

The message to be gained from the literature is that corporal punishment is encouraged but only as a last resort, it is to hurt but not to injure and it must always be administered "in love".

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