Is punishing my kids really achieving anything?

I often wonder, “What good is all this disciplining my kids going to do?”  I know Proverbs teaches that generally it will drive some of the foolishness from them.  But, ultimately they are sinners.  Their sin isn’t going to be driven from them by my punishing them.  Their sin nature can only be dealt with by them trusting Jesus Christ.  Then I remind myself of two truths.

One, discipline is more than just punishment.  Discipline is training them.  So just as much as I need to punish them I need to be training them to trust God – trust Jesus get their sin nature dealt with, and trust the Holy Spirit to be changing their sinful behaviors. 

Two, discipline in the form of punishment can serve to teach them about how God deals with them.  Among other things, it can teach them God does discipline our misbehavior, and hopefully it will teach them to accept God’s behavior as loving.  For those two things to happen, I have to be intentional.  When I punish them, I need to take that discipleship opportunity to talk to them about God disciplining us when we sin, and that He does it because He loves us.  Two, I need to communicate my love even in the middle of punishing them, and I need to act in a loving way when I punish (not out of control, flying off the handle, yelling).