Light is the spirit, but heavy is the body. Will the way the ancients punished children kill them?

The way the ancients punished children was beyond imagination, from spirit to body, which was fatal.

As the basic unit of the patriarchal clan system in ancient China, the family was not under the relevant state power, but in theory, most of the ancient families were extended families. Under the legal system of county system without imperial power, the chief of the clan or even parents punished their children mainly to make them obey the family rules. In other words, ancient people punished their children in a variety of ways, which exceeded people's imagination now.

1. Mental punishment is the most elementary and gentle way to punish children, which is generally implemented by elders.

Although it is a spiritual punishment, it actually follows the old adage that "a stick is a dutiful son, and a proud son has no righteousness", that is, the elders have absolute family authority over the younger generation, and parents have absolute family authority over their children. In family relations, the stability of family and even family is the basic premise of the stability of the whole ancient society. In this context, mental punishment belongs to a milder way to punish children.

Generally speaking, in this case, the child's violation of family rules is relatively minor, or in order to discipline and persuade the child to move towards a better life, take a vigilant approach. Therefore, the punishment of this verbal warning is the lightest, because it does not involve the physical level. Mainly the elders reprimanded, recorded, apologized to their ancestors and even abused them.

2. A more important punishment for children in ancient times was deprivation of property or even identity.

In ancient times, parents had absolute right to dispose of family property, so after their children got married, parents still had absolute right to dispose of their share. In this case, if parents want to punish their children, such as children disobeying their parents or even insulting their elders, they will take this means of depriving them of property and identity.

Property qualifications include fines, cessation, compensation, confiscation, transformation, confinement, abandonment and other different treatment methods and measures. We can find that the difference is subtle, that is, in the case of minor mistakes, we may only take simple measures such as fines and monthly fines, and then we may be expelled from the family, or even have no place in the genealogy, which is equivalent to completely isolating the child.

In ancient times, corporal punishment of children was very extensive, the most common was kneeling, and perhaps the most serious was deprivation of life.

In ancient people's life, corporal punishment is actually corporal punishment, including kneeling, slapping your mouth and beating with a stick, among which kneeling is the more common one. However, the ancient people's punishment for children is not capped in the world, and the laws of past dynasties support the absolute punishment of families and even heads of families to their descendants. With the acquiescence of the state, the elders in the family already have the right to control their children's lives, which may include extreme ways such as burying them alive, sinking ponds and hanging themselves. Of course, descendants who are treated in extreme ways will generally commit intolerable crimes, such as fornication and adultery.

In short, there are three ways to punish children in ancient times:

First, vigilance and humiliation usually take the form of elder reprimand, forced oath, demerit, ancestor worship and repentance, and also take the form of mental punishment such as abuse;

Secondly, in the category of property qualification, the methods of deprivation of property qualification are usually adopted, such as fine, suspension of business, compensation, confiscation, transformation, confinement, abandonment and delisting.

Third, corporal punishment, mainly corporal punishment, includes forms such as kneeling, slapping the mouth, beating with a stick, and the most serious is extreme means such as the right to dominate life.