Spare the Rod ... Not

As one of my weekly must-dos, I had dinner at my brother's place last Thursday. After dinner, we settled down to watch tv and do some light catching up. My nephew, whose name is Yong Jie, decided that this was the night he would push the envelope of acceptable behaviour. He started with asking to play the PSP, which his mom and dad both said no to. He then offered to teach me how to play the racing game on it, which was his favourite, in case I was dextrously-challenged. Of course, his parents saw through the ruse immediately and my brother in particular told Yong Jie in no uncertain terms to behave. But my nephew chose to up the ante and tried to manja his mom, in an attempt to play one parent against the other. That got on the nerves of my brother, who promptly gave his dear old son a few whips of the cane. Of course, my nephew threw a fit and started crying, which only earned him more caning.

It's not easy to see a kid being caned, much less your own nephew. While I don't disagree with what my brother did, it was still painful to see Yong Jie being disciplined. I wonder if I could do the same if I had kids. But I've always believe that you spoil the kid by sparing the rod. Take me for example, if my mom had not caned me during my childhood for all the mischief I got up to, I'm not sure if I'd have learnt right from wrong, and I would've grown up very spoilt and self-centred. I still remembered my primary school friend and I were caught shoplifting once. (In case you're wondering, we stole a plastic scale model kit of an aircraft - airfix for those who're old enough to know.) The manager told us to bring our parents there instead of calling the police. That night was one of the worst nights of my existence as I told my mom what had happened. She gave me the thrashing of my life, which to this day I still winced when I think about it, before going with me to see the manager the next day. Of course, the worse part was subjecting my mom to the humiliation of having to apologise to the manager. From that day on, I resolved never ever to let my mom down again. I dug in my heels and studied as hard as I could so that I can make her proud. It was as if I had to redeem myself in her eyes and I hope that I've done so after so many years.

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