The rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a child left to himself disgraces his mother (Proverbs 29:15).

Some psychologists, philosophers, and theologians might suggest that humans are, by nature, good.  People coming from this point-of-view would suggest that negative behavior comes about only as a response to negative stimuli -- and that if the perfect environment could ever be created and maintained, then there would be no evil.  Because humans are, by nature, good (or so the theory goes).

Whenever I hear this kind of theory, however, I have to wonder if such theorists ever had children.

In my own personal experience, as the father of three children, it seems to me that human sinfulness is an inborn trait.  Our home environment is certainly not perfect -- but I'd like to think that it's a good bit better than average.  We celebrate our children.  We speak words of love and encouragement to them from the day they are born into our household.  We tend to be quite protective about to whom and to what we will or will not expose our children.  As a result, our children tend to be mostly happy, unless they're dealing with some kind of illness or injury.  But even with all these things my children have going for them, I can see that they're pre-programmed for selfishness, disobedience, and sin.  It's just a part of their nature.  A child left to himself disgraces, disobeys, and destroys any illusion of "perfection" or "innocence."

With each of our three children, I can remember a moment, very early on (like six months of age or so), when they displayed the first signs of their sin nature.  We'd be teaching them "no-touch," to help protect them against electrical outlets and hot pans -- and to protect things like delicate chinaware from them.  But in the midst of such training, there would come a moment's pause, plain as a newspaper headline across the baby's face, where you could see a deliberate decision to disobey.  Sometimes it would even be accompanied by an impish smile, a sense of "Let's see what you're going to do now, when I touch this 'no-touch' item..."

So in these situations, we've had to break out "the rod of correction."  At first, it would be just physically moving the child to a different location, away from the "no-touch" item and trying to provide some form of distraction.  But eventually, inevitably, it would escalate to a little slap on the wrist, or a time-out in the crib.  The "rod of correction" needed to be implemented for the child's own good, so he wouldn't electrocute himself or burn himself or place some choking hazard into his mouth.  The child doesn't necessarily like to have this wisdom imparted to him, in that moment.  In fact, he will usually protest quite vehemently.  But the wisdom that's learned from such experiences will serve the child for the rest of his days.  Left to himself, he'll create a lot of trouble -- both for himself and for others.  But with a bit of correction and training, the child grows well and wise.