Reply To: Chinuch in public-What Do You Think?

To the person who said that potching and yelling are never chinuch: common sense and halacha disagree with you. If a child is doing something dangerous, yelling may in fact be proper so that the child is startled enough to immediately listen. Yelling doesn’t work when the parent does it all the time. I quote Halichos Bas Yisroel. “A mother must be prepared to reprimand her children strongly to guide them along the proper path so that they will refrain from wrongdoing. Occasionally it may be neccesary to use physical punishment. It is considered cruel to act leniently at such times.” Also, usually young children have to be reprimanded on the spot. They quickly forget and if you wait until you are out of the store, they’ve forgotten about what they’ve done, so it has no impact on them. Older children will be embarrassed if yelled at in public, so just don’t yell unless someone’s in danger. A soft, yet stern voice can do just as much as yelling. every parent needs a tone of voice that says “I mean business”.