I skipped over the story because I read it before and I cried for about a week afterwards. I remember many in my old Kingdom Halls that would bring wooden spoons into the hall bathroom to beat the kids with. Or belts, or other sticks. I can remember once a women who was studying said she would NEVER go to a KH again, because one father hit his six year old daughter so loudly, you could hear it all the way up to the front row! I had so many tell me to beat my kids into submission. I never did it, thank God. But many feel that "spare the rod, spoil the child" means to actually hit with a Rod. It does not, the Rod represents dicipline or giving dicipline, not hitting with a Dam Rod.
One more thing: one day I was visiting an elders wife (who was nuts by the way and on lots of meds), she was telling me and another sister that her three year old kept telling her no (which is normal at that age), and she got tired of the disrespect and, her words here not mine - "I beat his bottom black and blue". And she did, the kid was covered with bruises. The one sister just stood there while I reamed into this lady about how it was abusive and she had better get help, so forth and so on. And she looked at me and in such a calm, freaky voice she says "yeah, thats what Bob (her husband) said too". But, mind you if it was my kid, I would have left this mad lady and took the child with me. He did not seem too concerned as he kept leaving the child with her to go to work. And this kid was terrified of his mother! It made me sick. I told her If I ever see that again I would personally call DSS. Come to think of it, I should have called anyway.