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Childhood punishments

  • Thread starter Thread starter Rod
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Rod

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How were you punished as a child, our mom was able to inflict great pain on us without touching us physically, although I have had my rear end, and legs slapped on more than one occasion. I have a close friend who had the belt buckle if he stepped out of line...... Other friends were beaten, and caned at home, and at school!!
 
I used to get clattered - usually by Mom. If I did get a clout from Dad, my ears would be ringing for a week. :cry: He never used anything but his hands. His philisophy was; '... if yer 'ands ain't good enough, yer cor be much of a man!' :wink:
 
:D Dad never hit us, but Mum had a 3ft long (1meter) Bamboo cane (one like those that were used for the ‘tiddler’ fishing nets) that stood in the corner next to the fireplace :( . She often didn’t have to move out of her chair to ‘ lamp us one’ with it just reach over a little. She also had her old army belt for close up whacks. Some times if we made too much noise after going to bed she would send Dad up with the belt but he would just whack the end of the bed while blowing smoke rings in the air and letting his ‘fag’ glow on the ceiling 8) , we would pretend to cry saying ‘No dad, no dad”.
 
punishment

my dad use to send me to bed without any tea if i played up but my mom god bless her brought some sanwiches in to me. then she coped out. still never did me any harm. although my parents was strict with us. i miss those times very much and my parents to. it is very good to have a site like this to keep our memories alive good work.
 
Its larrupping time again.

Dad never once laid a finger on me, he was a big man and I'm sure if he ever had done so, he's have knocked me into the middle of next week..But just Dad shouting at us was enough..
Now my Mom...
Mom learned her trade at the 'Torquemeda' school of tortury..
She could belt us for England.
She used canes, belts, Morningstars (ok, I made that last one up)
But I tell you now, Mom literally drew blood as she thrashed Poo out of us.
Sometimes, she even thrashed Tigger and Piglet out of us as well.
I written in another place that I screamed long before Mom actually laid a finger on me..I had to, it meant survival when my Mom lost it big time.
I remember her hitting Robert one day with a huge belt and as she did so the prong from the buckle dug in his back, Mom ignored all his blood, reeled him in and then slapped the life out of him..And there I was, watching this redheaded Banshee beat my brother to death knowing it was my turn next...Yeah..I learned how to scream alright...
Love ya Mom..you can belt me again in Heaven.
 
I was lucky, my dad never laid a finger on me, i was too quick. My mum had a cane hanging on the side of the mantle shelf, i think she managed to catch me once (well maybe more) but i was a nagger, "Mom please let me go to the parK" - "No" - "Ohhhhh pleeeese" She could be sitting in her armchair at the side of the fire and she just leaned over for the cane....whoosh I'd gone.

I was doubly lucky because my mum and dad didn't hold grudges and if they didn't get me first time, they didn't bother to try again.

But the worst punishment that my mum ever inflicted on me, was to put me on the front doorstep when i was having 'paddy' - a punishment i found came in handy for my lads. Didn't have to hit ... just start walking towards the front door, and they would behave.

No! the worst punishment my mum and dad ever inflicted on me was to die and leave me.

Dotxx
 
:DI also used the 'Door step' punishment on my Kids, not just for 'Paddy', but also if they were arguing with each other. Funny how quickly they resolved the problem out there and became friends again. :lol:
 
Dorothy

Hi Dorothy,

No love, your parents didn't punish you by leaving you, what they did there was simply the natural order of things, but I guess to you it felt exactly like that....punishment.
The very fact that by reading your words you still love and miss them is surely a good thing, I truly feel that the worst indictment any parent could have is to neither be loved nor missed, that thought for me would be the worst of all Hells.
My dad (as you may have worked out from my writings) wasn't the greatest Father around but he was my Dad,
I've tried to work out over the years why he was the way he was but to date, I cant understand it, the only conclusion I can draw is that he saw himself trapped by a wife and 7 children, I guess for him all he saw was the emptiness of today and the dread of endless tomorrows, with that in mind I can begin to understand why he followed his twin pursuits of Gambling and Drinking,
But did he punish us? no..I dont think he gave us a second thought and THAT for me is the greatest betrayal, not the fact he died.
Draw comfort in the knowledge you WERE loved Dorothy, that was their greatest gift to you, far better than the Sun, the Moon and the Stars that my Father told me he'd leave me.
You see, the problem with Celestial bodies is they always stay just that little bit out of touch.
When I was young,
I lived in the City
The Stars were my friend,
I cannot answer why,
Now I am old,
I live out in the country
And Heaven is so high,
I cannot reach the sky.
 
slipper

Only got punished once that I can remeber by me dad when I "borrowed " sixpenny bit off the kitchen table. (about 5 yrs old )

I dont think I actually got hit as I crying too much being put across his knee.

I regularly got cane at school though.

Once for throwing bricks at the new block . The head caned us on the hands , and the cane broke on my mates hand (aged about 7 ish)

In senior school i had the slipper on the backside mostly for talking in class .

It made you jump about for a bit stinging and all that.

didnt stop me talking though.

I still talk but my wife hasn,t offered to slipper me yet .
 
Punishment?

My dad was raised by his grandmother after his parents died when he was two, not unusual in those days. Grandmother Louisa used to "belt" him regularly with a thin cane and continued to do this through his teen-age years. Dad always used to say that he had so much respect for her that he just took it. One day when he was about 22 Louisa was about to take the cane to him and he very gently removed it from her hands and said "no Gran" She looked at him and said "......I've been waiting for you to do that for years...."
By the way Kandor have you seen the story in Carl's magazine for this month from a lady who lived in Ashted Row like your Uncle Les?
 
The Brat

Hi Les

Well you usually have me crying with laughter but not this time. Yes i guess i always knew that they reallyy didn't leave me because they hated me.

But i was a brat, never appreciated them when i was a kid. And i am ashamed to say, that i probably didn't really understand them until after they were no longer here.

But i also remember that i had it sussed how to avoid a smack, even if they caught me (well dad anyway) i would start to giggle, and that would stop him dead in his tracks. He'd back off and shrug his shoulders with a "Oh what the heck - it doesn't matter that much" - well not those precise words but - you know what i mean.

If only you knew how many times i've thought "Mum would be really chuffed to know that" or "Dad would be so proud" But it's too late. I just wish that i had told them i loved them more often.

Just run out of tissues .....Sniffle snuffle

Luv Dotxxx
 
Dorothy

Dorothy or can I just call you . lol,
I'm the same, in fact all my family are, we seek the reassurance that our parents would be proud of us yet I dont know why we seek such a thing so much.
Its been written somewhere here that wealth is not a measure of a person and in all fairness I have to agree.
Yet my parents would have loved even half of what we have around us today and would have considered themselves great successes if they had even achieved close to it.
Morally?
I am as good as my parents ever were, I know I am certainly more educated and definately more widely read and far more travelled.
Add all those things together and I think, actually, I KNOW, my Mom and Dad would have been proud of me, yet, its their verbal approval I really seek and...well, that cant happen in this lifetime.
You're a good person Dorothy, I can tell by the way you write, I can tell in WHAT you write (I've also hacked your computer and apart from your fetish with naked hedgehogs I can't find anything your parents wouldn't have been proud of )..you keep doing what you do...they can see you ya know.
And funny? yes, I can do funny...its about time I started doing it again..
Be good,

Les
 
:D In answer to Kandor. My crime was one of the oldest in the world :!: I fell in love with this most amazing and wonderful Kiwi 8) . I have now served 36 years of my lifetime sentence and my only hope is that the rest of my sentence will be just as loving, trusting, interesting and exciting as the time already served :wink: . Cheers :)
 
:DJKC you were much like the boys with who I grew up with in Nechells :). I think the only reason I did not take part in such deeds was that I feared my Mom much more than any 'Copper' :wink: . She knew how to give out punishment and was not afraid to do so :cry: . I know it was wrong, but the lads I knew did not use violence against people as they all seem to do these days just for the sake of it. :)
 
Amazing how we survived.
Actually the government seems to have banned most corporal punishment now,even schools lost it back in 1986.
It could be overused of course,but for most of us a modest reminder of the rules was best done with a well placed hand movement.This really should be a matter of choice,but of course their should be a guideline that serious marking will raise questions,some people did used to go to far.
 
Stange how we all turned out to be responsible adults. I was smacked by mom and dad, whoever was there when we played up. I had the cane and the slipper at school and I know that whenever I was smacked at home or at school, I deserved it. Without that punishment I know I would have gone the wrong way. I must point out that no one ever seems to realise that every year since smacking was banned the number of unruly bad mannered children who turn into yobs, then become criminals is growing year on year. I am ever grateful to my parents and teachers for pointing me in the right direction.

It did hurt though at times. Ha Haa.
 
Well said Stitcher,and you more than most see the results of lack of discipline,and how it can affect god fearing folk.

So it hurt? Should have used more padding lol.
 
My mom (if she could catch me, 'cos I was quick...) would give me a damn good shaking by grabbing me by the shoulders. One fine day she shook me and my glasses fell off and got crushed underfoot - no more shaking after that! My old man, though, would grab me by the seat of my pants and tan my ****; not hard, but hard enough. He was a big bloke, a former boxer, and was brought up in an environment harder than I could ever imagine. It wasn't so much the pain, but the shame and the embarrassment. The real terror in our house, though, was my Gran, who walked with a stick and would use it if she caught me. Her favourite accusation was 'dumb insolence', that is, just looking at her with a cheeky expression. She hated that.

But for all that, and in all honesty, I don't think the mild physical punishments I suffered did me any lasting, mental harm. I was, after all, a horrible child....

Big Gee
 
I am pretty certain my father did not think a lot of me but I was not alone. I think he disliked everyone from Jews to any one not white and English. Scots , Irish ,Poles you name it he hated them.From an early age I saw the wrong in this so it set me on a collision course with him.Canes ,leather belts, nylon rules I got them but not to excess and only once did he threaten to use his fists. On that occasion I offered to match him and after that it stopped.
So what was the result of his "extra ordinary rendition". I walked out as soon as my age allowed and eventually lost track of my family just like the rest of the siblings.It left me with a life long speech impediment and a nervous condition that comes and goes.
I do not agree with physical punishment of children because I would not want anyone hated as much as I hated my father.Other chidren were treated, and still are, much worse than me. I missed doing a lot of things with my father and never had the chance to do with my own because I had none.However along the way I have gathered 13 step grandchildren. When you get fed up of then you hand them back to the parents. Its ideal.
 
hi arkrite...i am also against physical punishment of children...and it saddened me to read your story....the most us kids ever had was a sharp slap on the back of the legs...no belts..rulers...canes or other impliments were ever used on us.... i have never raised a finger to any of my four kids....never felt the need to....maybe its because i can still hear the screams of a child who was beaten constantly by his parents with a leather belt.....that child is no longer with us....i wonder why....just trying to point out that the phrase it never done us any harm does not always apply....

lyn
 
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Just as bad was the institutional violence in schools. I was only caned twice. Once for questioning the existance of God, the second for being near a display case when the glass broke. I still deny any action on my part caused it to break.So any idea of it being a just world left me early on. The cane was used far to often and I question why only certain teachers administered it.
As to my father he did not beat me senseless but just a couple of strokes on a regular bases to my mind wether I deserved it or not. He would always find a reason. It bred in me dumb insolence, hatred for that individual and a dislike for my mother who never questioned this treament of her children.
Acceptance of whatever violence towards children just perpetuates it.It has certainly left its mark on me, not physical but mental.....arkrite.
 
Arkrite said:
Just as bad was the institutional violence in schools. I was only caned twice. Once for questioning the existance of God, the second for being near a display case when the glass broke. I still deny any action on my part caused it to break.So any idea of it being a just world left me early on. The cane was used far to often and I question why only certain teachers administered it.
As to my father he did not beat me senseless but just a couple of strokes on a regular bases to my mind wether I deserved it or not. He would always find a reason. It bred in me dumb insolence, hatred for that individual and a dislike for my mother who never questioned this treament of her children.
Acceptance of whatever violence towards children just perpetuates it.It has certainly left its mark on me, not physical but mental.....arkrite.
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Arkrite that is a very sad tale. I was petrified of the cane and glad to say I never suffered it. My brothers did and I think feel like you about some teachers. I know they were caned if naughty but it's a question I have never asked them. I will now. I am sorry you suffered in this way and I am sure if it had happened to me I would feel the same.
 
As far as I recall my dad never hit me.However, my mom did,she would bash me with anything that came to hand,usually the poker,and then lock me in the cellar,from which I soon learned to escape.It never did me any harm,considering the things I did "going missing"was one,carving my initials on the outside of the highest pinnicle of Tewksbury Abbey,whilst mom was watching below,was another,she must have been mortified.But,we remained good friends,she even made a big effort in her old age to come to my 70 birthday party.Nah,she was right and I was wrong,and deserved all I got.
 
Ray, I will look for your initials next time I am in Tewksbury. I should have a big enough pair of binoculars somewhere. Never gone much on climbing steeples. Certain you were not emulating the hero in Tom Browns Schooldays?
 
It all comes down to balance,and if it's one sided how much does it affect us.
I actually benefited from the very occasional light slaps of my parents.My father hates violence,the result of active service in WW2.Seing people die,and being a confirmed methodist meant he would do no more than try to chastice only when absolutely necessary.

Now schools,my main schooling period was the 70s,sometime in the 60s the real excess of corporal punishment went.People had sued schools by then,and modern headmasters like the great Mr Greenfield we had at Light Hall knew what was acceptable,and what wasn't.
But remember,mental bullying by staff in front of other pupils was probally worse because of this.However I only had this once,and my father went in to see the headmaster,fairly but firmly he suggested the games teacher in question would be better moved along to another school to save the matter going furthur,with the dreaded possibility of it finding its way into the local press....and good as gold not only did the teacher leave,but I personally never had any furthur problems.

But personal memories aside you could see some teachers tried to play fair,with just the occasional slap,while others often went too far.It's probally not right to compare my tame experiences with what Arkrite and others had to endure.And with hindsight I would prefer the government to let parents use a minimum of corporal punishment as a last resort,but am happy it has been banned in schools,even if this has,unfortunately lead to a tragic degeneration in behaviour patterns in some places.
 
My education was in the 50s/60s and we saw plenty of caning. I have just remembered that when I left school there was a big push to recruit teachers from my fellow students. Those who went on to become teachers perhaps had less taste for giving out corporal punishment.
Today many parents shy away from the No word with young children. I see examples in my family. Say no to some of them they cry and run away for a kiss and cuddle. Gran and Gramps are left with problem of marker ink on the wallpaper. I do not agree to to a slap but do expect the parents to point out what the child has done and not reward them with a kiss and a cuddle. It sends out the message that anything I do will be rewarded. No wonder so many run wild when at school or in public. Out of my thirteen step grand kids there are two little horrors. the rest I can take anywhere without people breathing a sigh of relief when we leave. These have been raised by the "naughty Step" punishment, a deprivation of priveledge to play with toys or your siblings for a short period. Surprisingly it works, the other two are spoilt rotten with no restrictions on there behaviour.God help the teachers who get those two.Should we expect teachers to discipline our badly behaved offspring. I think more should be done to inform parents of ways to train their child in the early stages.

Can any one remember "Whacko" on TV with Jimmy Edwards as the inept ,cane weilding Teacher at some private school. I met plenty like him but never found them funny.
 
Richard,
When in recent times I have been to Tewksbury,a look up at where I climbed on the tower,made me shudder,how did I get there?.
Our teachers in the 1940s. were "whacko" crazy,mostly they were young men who had just fought and won a war,I still think they were probably better,than at any other time.Mention of verbal bullying,reminds me of a lad in my class who commited suicide,and the whispers at the time, was, that it was the fault of a sarcastic teacher,nah,I prefered and respected the teacher who would give you a whack,and then forget it.
 
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