here's a biblical perspective taken from:
http://groups.google.com/group/Atheism-vs-Christianity/browse_thread/thread/f5df1f4d170797f?hl=enFrom the New International Version (NIV):
Proverbs 13:24
24 He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.
Proverbs 20:30
30 Blows and wounds cleanse away evil, and beatings purge the inmost being.
Proverbs 23:13-14
13 Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish him with the rod, he will not die.
14 Punish him with the rod and save his soul from death
Exodus 21:15
15 Anyone who attacks (or kills) his father or his mother must be put to death.
Leviticus 20:9
9 'If anyone curses his father or mother, he must be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother, and his blood will be on his own head.
Deuteronomy 21:18-21
18 If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him,
19 his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town.
20 They shall say to the elders, "This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a profligate and a drunkard."
21 Then all the men of his town shall stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.
Mark 7:9-13
9 And he said to them: "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!
10 For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.'
11 But you say that if a man says to his father or mother: 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban' (that is, a gift devoted to God),
12 then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother.
13 Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that."
Matthew 15:4-7
4 For God said, 'Honor your father and mother' and 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.'
5 But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is a gift devoted to God,'
6 he is not to 'honor his father' with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition.
7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
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i think the last few verses suggest that a family's first obligation is to the community which sustains them and then to their children. so any "indiscipline" which could weaken the community is intolerable.