For me it was just the threat of the wooden spoon, but mostly the warning of my father being told about what I had done when he came home.

I can never remember my mother ever taking that spoon out of the utensil holder (for cooking purposes either) or my father ever reacting in a way other than raising his voice or trying his hardest to hold back laughter.

Punishment was that simple and worked.

I was a child that generally found some form of mischief to get into (or as I would claim, it found me), but through it all I always learned my lesson without learning the force of a hand.

In school I was never in the position to face punishment, but do remember consequences including detentions, skipped recesses or trips to the principal’s office as forms of punishment for those who misbehaved.

I would never expect myself or my classmates to experience what my parent’s generation endured for misbehavior: slaps on the hand with a ruler from a towering linebacker dressed in a habit.

And I bet when Michelle Fallaw-Gabrielson picked up her rambunctious six-year-old, Chandler Scott Fallaw, from Schaumburg Christian School she was not expecting assistant administrator Linda Moreau to tell her to spank her child before she left or he would face suspension.

Although just more than half the states have banned corporal punishment by school officials since the 1970s, with Illinois taking that action in 1994, private schools have wide discretion in discipline matters and parents agree to school policies when they enroll their children.

Schaumburg Christian School’s request was legal.

“Parent-administered corporal punishment” is part of their disciplinary system for pre-kindergarten through 6th-grade children. Parents sign a “statement of cooperation”which includes this guideline and the parent/student handbook states, “When this becomes necessary, parents will be asked to administer this form of punishment.”

But, it is never necessary to hit a child. Taking away privileges to attend or participate in school activities or requesting parents promise punishment of this form at home is a more beneficial request than requesting physical discipline.

“Spare the rod, spoil the child” is an old saying most of us are not used to hearing for a reason. The motto has faded because there are many alternative choices to effectively punish children; educators and school administrators especially should know this, but unfortunately, the motto remains strong at Schaumburg Christian.

School administrator Randy Thaxton was quoted in Sunday’s Chicago Tribune saying corporal punishment has a basis in the Bible in Proverbs 13:24, “He that spareth his rod hateth his son.” Inside one desk drawer, he keeps two paddles-a ping-pong paddle, and a larger, lightweight wooden paddle that can be used for spanking.

Alarmingly, punishment policies and paddles on hand don’t seem to frighten parents, which frightens me. The school has not been sued during Thaxton’s 11 years in charge and instead, enrollment has doubled from 600-students.

Fallaw-Gabrielson may have refused to spank her son and withdrew him from school the next day, but what about the other 1,200 students there or the thousands of students at other private schools which allow these disciplinary measures? If parents are signing forms agreeing to perform such disciplinary measures on school grounds, one can only imagine discipline behind closed doors for these children.