Grown folks have their own address. I was listening to a sports show and the question was asked: “are coaches, coaching scared?”

In the response, a hall of fame basketball player agreed that some coaches are scared of coaching players. He attributed this to the environment of parenting these days. He spoke of hard coaching that he had. But he also spoke of the hard parenting that he had that helped him to become a Hall of Famer. He said that if his mother was to do today what she did then, she would be put in jail.

I can truly identify, as I, myself, was the victim of child abuse.

At the age of 12, my father whooped me with an extension cord till he tore the bloody flesh off the back of my legs. After realizing what he did. He then began to slap me across my face.

I grew to hate him and at the age of nineteen, in the U.S. Navy, we went blow for blow.

What am I saying? Although I was brought up in this dysfunctional environment. When we know better, we do better.

I don’t condone my father’s actions. No child should have to experience any forms of child abuse.

However, no discipline is still a form of child abuse.

There is nothing wrong with wanting more for our children. But at the risk of not respecting authority, it’s not worth it. As parents, we are not their friends nor their peers.

It’s time out for continuing to breastfeed kids who have teeth.

Parenting is not about a popularity contest. It’s about training and cultivating.

If you feel you don’t have the time or dedication to instill effective discipline, stop having sex.

Righteous discipline includes effective communication.

We must train our children to respect authority and that they can’t have or do what they want, when they want, how they want. They can cry now or you can cry later.

My father and I grew to have a healthy relationship.

I did not adopt my father’s method of discipline. But I did adopt his ideology that the streets can’t have my child.

The streets apply discipline, the prison system applies discipline.

The lack of effective discipline is just as much child abuse as excessive discipline.

What your tongue doesn’t instill, time will.

And you might not like what time tells you.

 

Demetrius Moffett is Senior Pastor of Orange Church of God, 1911 North 16th Street in Orange.