Remembering punishments at home
November is “National Novel Writing Month”. A forum’s been set up for writers to exchange ideas, and in the section entitled “Character and Plot Realism Q&A”, Mary asked, “Anyone have parents who used physical punishment.”
justBetsy shared her experiences:
” Father spanked over the knee with his hand or a belt. Switched to the “I’m disapppointed talk” at age 12. He always said ahead of time why he was spanking and how many “licks” we were to get. His punishments were usually later (“wait till your father gets home!”)
Mother, on the other hand, did “on the spot” punishment. But she rarely said what it was for, and often we didn’t know. Frequently she’d make us line up and spank all of us. She beat us standing up against the door. She used a yardstick, a flyswatter, or a switch she’d make us go cut in the yard. She also would wash our mouths with soap, or do other worse things. She wouldn’t stop until she was tired or until she broke whatever she was beating us with (and sometimes not even then).”
Angelfreak84 wrote: “For me it was a “wait until your mother gets home” kinda thing. She’d assign the punishment, but it was usually my dad that dealt it out. We had one of those leather straps that I guess it used to sharpen a straight razor. That was the spanking implement as my sister and I got older. Otherwise, it was a belt or bare hand. I think the last time the strap was used, I was about 13.”
KleenexCow described about her mother’s experiences: “her dad would make her go out into the yard and choose a “switch” from a tree. The temptation was to choose a smaller branch, but those were usually greener and hurt more than the larger, stiffer branches.”
Alicorne137 from Oklahoma explained: “My mom always spanked us with my father’s belt. (The leather part, not the buckle.) I wasn’t in trouble much, but I think it was pretty much immediate punishment and usually just one swat standing up. At my grandmother’s house, it was, “Go get a switch off the peach tree.” I think my parents would have said anything that left a mark would have been excessive.”
