A parent educator re-thinks her approach after coming to faith

As a parent educator who recently came to Christ one of my big questions about the Bible was, what does it say about discipline, and does discipline mean punishment? I’d heard about the more authoritarian styles of ‘Christian’ parenting, using corporal punishment, and the often quoted paraphrase of proverbs 13; ‘spare the rod and spoil the child.’ 

My training and understanding of the latest brain science indicates that punishment, even the non-physical kind, such as consequences are not the most effective way to parent. While consequences can be used to manipulate children into compliance, they don’t address the root cause of why children misbehave.