Child Discipline
Child DisciplineThe discipline of a child must always come from the parents, as society says. Power corrupts, however, and absolute power over another person can corrupt absolutely. Taking advantage of the thinness of the line between discipline and abuse, a parent often doesn’t have to answer to anyone if and when they cross that line.
In Mary Fisher’s essay “The Broken Chain,” Fisher’s father must deal regularly with punishing and disciplining his daughter. When bad, Fisher would occasionally have to bare her bottom to her father, awaiting punishment. Rex, her father, would then deal out the appropriate number of spankings, usually relative to her age. One evening when Fisher lost her patients, she dropped her baby brother from a highchair onto the floor. The response from her father was immediate and unthinking, smacking her aside the head and sending her across the room. Fisher spent the rest of the night in her room.
Fisher’s mother eventually came to her room and...
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