Spare the rod

To treat your kid like they're better than you rather than equal to or less than. To refrain from whooping a kids ass, even a deserved ass whooping.

Lindsay's mother and father spared her the rod because they thought she was special and didn't want to ruin her. They gave her everything she could think to want and turned her into a mollycoddle, but its not her fault. Blame her parents, they said spare the rod.