Spare The Rod ©

They say, "Spare the rod and spoil the child!"
but if you do they will just run wild.
Is this a saying we must uphold,
for children who demand and won't be told?
The trend now is to outlaw smacking.
Tying parent's hands may have government backing.
A parent surely, is the one who should know,
when chastising a child, how far they should go.
Giving a child a tap on the hand,
is one way to make them understand
what is wrong and what is right,
but making sure it is always light.
We must always know when to stop,
it's quite easy to go over the top.
In a family, the parent should be master,
if the child rules, this can be a disaster.
Some children are naughty and can drive you mad,
and have to be shown it's not good to be bad.
To bring up a child in this world of today,
they can't always have their own way,
So, is it, "Spare the rod and spoil the child?"
or "Spare the rod and let them run wild.....?"