Corporal punishment

[Neferti]

Same here. I still have a vivid memory of my mother chasing me around the garden whipping me with a willow stick whenever she managed to get close enough.

Mum used the hairbrush, but mostly on my younger (by 2 years), twin sisters, who were little brats. My youngest sister is 8 years younger than I am and she was just a little pest when we were growing up. I can't recall being over enthused with her as a baby, she bawled a lot and got away with stuff none of us others ever did. We called her "Stinker".

Hand smacking really irritates me. When I see mothers constantly smacking their kids on the hand I feel like doing the same to them.

It was just a tap on the hand, really, not a smack as such, with a stern NO when she touched something I didn't want her to touch. She was a good little kid, I was just training her not to open/touch certain cupboards and drawers in the kitchen, etc. It worked. However, she would try me on ... put her little hand out to "touch" a cupboard door or a drawer, look around at me and I would look sternly at her and say a loud NO. This is when she was, maybe, 6-7 months old, she walked at 10 months.

Haha - the perfect child? Didn't you ever get into trouble for talking too much? I was half bad and half good.

No. I can't recall ever getting into trouble for talking in class. I was actually a very quiet child and a very good student. I was rather shy, and had it drummed into me that I should be a "good example" for my younger sisters. So I was.

In Secondary School, teachers thought I was wonderful. My homework was always in on time, I never disrupted the Class and I usually came either top of the Class or near enough in EXAMS.

Then I met boys.

[Black Orchid]

You cant reason with small children.

Totally disagree and you need to use a normal tone as opposed to a high pitched squealy baby talk tone like they are idiots. They are not.

My father never touched me but my mother chased me around a few times with the wooden spoon. Unfortunately for her she couldn't catch me.

I went to an all girls school and I can guarantee that if any 'abuse' was aimed in my direction that my parents would certainly have intervened.

[AiA in Atlanta]

I got the belt a few times from dear ol' dad. Now that I am older and wiser I suspect that it was dear ol' mum who told him to do it.

[mantra]

In Secondary School, teachers thought I was wonderful. My homework was always in on time, I never disrupted the Class and I usually came either top of the Class or near enough in EXAMS.

Then I met boys.

I bet you sat at the front of the class too Neferti.

Boys can be a major disruption in a girl's education.

I got the belt a few times from dear ol' dad. Now that I am older and wiser I suspect that it was dear ol' mum who told him to do it.

Maybe not. I would think most women would prefer not to see their child belted (unless they were doing it themselves), even if it was from their father.

[Rorschach]

You cant reason with small children.

Totally disagree and you need to use a normal tone as opposed to a high pitched squealy baby talk tone like they are idiots. They are not.

My father never touched me but my mother chased me around a few times with the wooden spoon. Unfortunately for her she couldn't catch me.

I went to an all girls school and I can guarantee that if any 'abuse' was aimed in my direction that my parents would certainly have intervened.

Sorry seen enough of both types of parents to know mostly it doesn't work... kids are irrational and emotional mostly until they grow a brain and that comes only with maturity and sometimes not even then.

[Outlaw Yogi]

At age 21 my father said "You were a bastard of a kid, and you're still a bastard. You copped a hiding a week and it didn't make any bloody difference".

These days if you threatened to belt a kid, they'd wet their pants, and ring a help line.

[AiA in Atlanta]

Maybe not. I would think most women would prefer not to see their child belted (unless they were doing it themselves), even if it was from their father.

Not so sure. Even today she thinks she knows what is best for her kids and puts dear ol' dad up to it.

[boxy]

From what I've seen of good, bad and indifferent parents, it's got little to do with whether corporal punishment is used (ignoring the extremes, where it could be better described as domestic violence). It's all about the parents being interested, dedicating time to the child, and being consistent with their approach. Too often, smacking is used as a quick fix, or just to shut the kid up. There is a place for it, as a last resort. But normally, if the parent is calm and consistent with their dealings with the child, it is seldom needed.

[Outlaw Yogi]

No. I can't recall ever getting into trouble for talking in class.

I can, in what was then called 1st class.
We'd been told by our teacher Mrs Northill to be quiet while she read to us sitting on a carpet on the floor. Can't remember who started it, but another kid, Darren Nash (later went to the Catholic school) and I got into a conversation.
The teacher gave us a note (didn't read it) and sent us to the principal.
The principal caned us both. Nash ran home crying and I went back to class. Where the teacher quizzed me about what happened and I told her.
She liked me after that, and made me Santa in the school play.

In 4th class a girl, Belinda Keating hit me, so I pushed her over an aluminium bench seat. My teacher, Mr Hart saw it and said "You just had to retaliate, didn't you?". Then caned me.

Was caned several times in High school. ... Example when Mr "Thunder-guts" White caned me for drawing in a maths text book.

[Black Orchid]

Maybe not. I would think most women would prefer not to see their child belted (unless they were doing it themselves), even if it was from their father.

Not so sure. Even today she thinks she knows what is best for her kids and puts dear ol' dad up to it.

I think a lot of women used to prefer the man to be the disciplinarian. "Wait until your father gets home" was a fairly common threat, whether or not dear old dad was told or not.