childhood punishments.

[Alberta]

I occasionally had a whack on my bottom from my Mom and a whack accross the knuckles from the teacher, whilst i don't believe in hitting children i don't think any of my childhood punishments 'scarred' me.

My son has a teacher friend who when called a 'f*****g bitch' is required to put the girls name on the blackboard with an 'unhappy face' to show she is disappointed in her.If she apologises she can have a 'smiley face' put next to her name.

Is it just me that despairs?.

 

[Kandor]

Role models

No, it's not just you Alberta...I wonder how this is all going to end up too..
I know that respect should be put into children by the Parents...and this from a very early age..
One of the problems around today is that I've just used the plural regarding Parents..in a lot of cases it's just the Mother..and a teenage mother at that.
Before I get beat up here, I also know there are some GOOD single Mothers..but I bet the controls and discipline we had in our earlier lives aren't there..least not like we knew them.
Teachers are then supposed to hone and instill a sense of social and educational responsibilty..but a lot of the times, there's just no base to begin from..
And no punishment allowed to drive the message home.
Kids these days use swear words as a matter of course..I know..I hear it every day on my visits to houses in Brum.
Their art is that of mindless vandalism...in their minds, the urge to destroy being a creative thing.
We've lost respect..
The people who are supposed to be role models fail us badly ..from Politicians who look us in the eye and lie through their teeth..from Footballers paid huge amounts of money each week that we take years to earn..then display a thuggery or a contempt for everything and everyone that put them there..
We're doomed folks...that's the truth of it..I try my bit of course, especially with my children..but I'm like that little Dutch boy, Peter..
My fingers in the Dam...but there are leaks appearing everywhere
I'm glad I lived the main part of my life in the years I did...

 

[DAVE BRICK]

SCHOOL PUNISHMENTS

I had the cane/stick at school more than once and it has'nt harmed me in later life. What has harmed me in later life is the bullying I received from other kids, this had a lasting effect.

I'd like to see them try it now.

 

[Oisin]

I agree with all you say, Les.

The strange thing is, my daughter, a teacher in an inner city school, reckons the kids who she knows are beaten at home are the most disruptive in the class. 'Twould seem parents today cannot distinquish between a corrective slap and a vicious assault.

She was once sexually assaulted by an eight year old. When questioned, his mother said she couldn't understand it. The had let him watch Red Hot Dutch on the telly but they didn't have in anymore. But, according to my daughter, the biggest threat is from parents coming in drunk to take up some beef about something or other.

My other daughter, a police officer, is also astounded by the level of domestic violence she comes across between parents and children. In one case, she had to prevent a father from nearly killing his son, who he'd come to bail for vandalism. The next week they were arresting the kid again.

My son-in-law, another teacher, tells me he has a disruptive pupil who can't be given detension as there's an ASBO against him being in the area of the school after 4 p.m.

So, what the answer is, I have no idea.

 

[Alf]

I Had the cane off the teachers and cane off my Mother and was bullied at school, also in the Army while on National Service but it never turned me into a Yob in fact I'm a parent who never hit my 4 lads, SHOUT & SHOUT and that did the trick still dos and I'm 69 this year
By the way My 4 lads are 21, 19, 16. and 12 think about it!

 

[Di.Poppitt]

Good on yer Alf

A good whack on the bottom would do some of the youngsters good. I was smacked when I deserved it, and if either of our children did anything really naughty then I smacked their hand. It didn't happen more than a couple of times, but it didn't hurt them.

 

[Jerry]

As regards school punishment, I went to Waverley grammar school, which I absolutely hated but that's another story for another day
The one thing I think they got right was punishment
For lesser offences all teachers were allowed to give out lines or detention
For anything they thought deserved the cane then they had to report it to the headmaster. No teachers were allowed to give out any form of physical punishment, only the headmaster, and the teacher had to bring the pupil to the headmasters office, explain the reasons for the punishment and then the pupil was allowed to have his say before the headmaster decided whether to apply the cane or not, and how many strokes
If you did get the cane, which I did often, then you were ordered to bend over the back of a chair and given the cane on your backside.
now I think that this was probably all a bit barbaric but at least it was never done on the spur of the moment or in temper and the pupil did get his day in court.

 

[Kandor]

The thing I feared most.

My Mom saying 'Just wait 'til I get you home'
Knowing I was walking that last mile to my imminent death was far worse than her actually belting me..(and I use the word 'Belt' in its true meaning..)

 

[anthony and jackie perry]

Childhood

I too despair at the so called younger generation. Respect for others. being well behaved at all times,NEVER answering back, these were all the norm in my childhood. I know each generation is different in parents attitude towards their children but so many youngsters, not all, have a couldnt care less attitude. My Mom never lay a hand on any of us 4 kids she didnt have to, all she had to say was "Just wait till your Dad gets home!" We were petrified! My own 3 had a slap on the hand if need be when they were little, but as they got older just a look from us would be enough. I was always proud to take my 3 anywhere. And now they have children of their own and I can see reflections of the way they were brought up in the way my grandchildren behave. But I do worry for their future. Jackie

 

[G G Jean]

When I was a child I had a fascination for fire. When no one was looking I would put things on the fire. Don't ask me why. My friend David S....k lit little fires in front gardens until we got caught. My punishment was having to watch my favourite rag doll burn on the fire. I ran in the street crying and told all my friends. I could see my mom looking through the window. Later in life she said it was the worst thing she had to do. Mind you it cured me. TTFN. Jean.

 

[kcirmast]

fire

Hi Gee Gee Jean,

just read your post and it reminded me of my fire raising days. School holidays, parents at work, mates all round at my house wanting something to do and my idea was a camp fire. Used all the cups and saucers in the house, saucepans, milk, sugar and the fire was made from ripping up the neighbours wooden fences. Punishment, made to clean everything till spotless, even the blackened pots , no pocket money for two weeks, made to call on all neighbours and apologise and finally the slipper and sent to bed with no supper, harsh times indeed

 

[Brenda]

I can't remember my Dad ever giving me a "Good Hiding" on the legs or bottom but I did get some from Mom.

Another time, when I was about 11 I had to give ALL my toys, books etc to my sister.

 

[Alf]

Brenda I to don't ever remember my Dad hitting me.

But over the years thinking about it, Mom had to put up with a lot for 6 years on her own and I was 3 when Dad went away and my late Sister 2 and Mom had to work to feed us etc so no regrets. The only sad thing I never told her I understood.

 

[BrummieB]

When I was a kid.... I was a bit of a bugger (apparently :angel.

One day, my mum, in despair at neighbours complaints about me, took me outside, put down a car blanket, placed all my toys around it... and proceeded to put a dog collar around my wrist, attached the lead to the collar and tied the end of the lead to a hook in the wall. She left me to safely play, whilst keeping out of trouble.

Then the complaints started again..... from the neighbours saying how cruel she was to tie me up like that. Sometimes, you just can't win.


As for school..... I've been punished with the ruler, the cane, the slipper, half a hoola hoop and the rope hanging from the ceiling of the school gym.

I've managed to reach middle age without a single scar... mental or physical.

 

[Geoff]

Mr Archie Lucas was the headmaster at Waverly Grammar School until the 1950's when he left to become head of a Girls Grammar at Walsall. He lived in Yew Tree Avenue, Yardley where he was my parents neighbour together with his wife and daughter Audrey. He drove an E type Morris car. He was a Methodist lay preacher at at a Methodist church in Stechford. He had a prodigious memory and could recite the whole of Hiawatha by heart.