Discipline in children’s ministry can be a challenging element of what we do. There is a fine line between being appropriate and inappropriate, and between “discipline” and “punishment.
We’ve got a post about this coming up in the next few weeks, but today I thought I’d share this list found of punishments at List of Note. It’s from a school in North Carolina in 1848.
I’m pretty certain that our kids are glad we don’t consider using the same standard!
RULES OF THE STOKES COUNTY SCHOOL
|
Offense
|
Lashes |
|---|---|
| 1. Boys & Girls Playing Together |
4
|
| 2. Quarreling |
4
|
| 3. Fighting |
5
|
| 4. Fighting at School |
5
|
| 5. Quarreling at School |
3
|
| 6. Gambling or Betting at School |
4
|
| 7. Playing at Cards at School |
10
|
| 8. Climbing for every foot over three feet up a tree |
1
|
| 9. Telling Lies |
7
|
| 10. Telling Tales Out of School |
8
|
| 11. Nick Naming Each Other |
4
|
| 12. Giving Each Other Ill Names |
3
|
| 13. Fighting Each Other in Time of Books |
2
|
| 14. Swearing at School |
8
|
| 15. Blackguarding Each Other |
6
|
| 16. For Misbehaving to Girls |
10
|
| 17. For Leaving School Without Leave of the Teacher |
4
|
| 18. Going Home With Each Other without Leave of Teacher |
4
|
| 19. For Drinking Spiritous Liquors at School |
8
|
| 20. Making Swings & Swinging on Them |
7
|
| 21. For Misbehaving when a Stranger is in the House |
6
|
| 22. For Wearing Long Finger Nails |
2
|
| 23. For not Making a Bow when a Stranger Comes in |
3
|
| 24. Misbehaving to Persons on the Road |
4
|
| 25. For not Making a Bow when you Meet a Person |
4
|
Click over to List of Note to see the rest of the list…yes, there are 23 more lash-worthy offenses listed! Of course, this would not be considered “discipline that disciples” in our children’s ministry. So . . .
Share one discipline tip you use in your KidMin
that does help disciple kids.
And definitely don’t get caught playing cards or “misbehaving to girls”!!
