"My child will never lie to me," I assured my friends, confident I would be such a good mother that would never happen.

Several times, with sadness in her voice and a shake of her head as if to erase a bad memory, I heard my mother tell of the first time I ever lied to her. Another neighborhood child and I had climbed up on the hood of his (her? I can't remember) daddy's car and colored all over it with crayon. The neighbor came to Mom and told her that I had done it. Mom would not believe it. And I lied. Somehow, finally, I came clean (no doubt Dad came home and a spanking was involved). And Mom's bubble was broken.

Then one day MY neighbor came over to tell me something MY child had done. I did not believe it. MY child lied. It took awhile, and a spanking was probably involved, but he came clean. And my bubble burst.

Spanking is mostly frowned upon these days, but I'm thankful for every one I got (and it's common knowledge I needed plenty). It's not easy now for me to lie (although that took a lot of spankings!); and as a classic strong-willed child, I shudder to think of what I'd have become without my parents' discipline.

Interestingly, a recent study showed spanked children do better all around than those who weren't. Proving once again that our ways are not God's ways.

Don't be afraid to correct your young ones; a spanking won't kill them. A good spanking, in fact, might save them from something worse than death. Proverbs 23:13