Did you get spanked as a kid? Do you spank your own?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

I was spanked with a fair amount of frequency by Mom and Grandma, who both used belts. I also went to a school that used spanking with a wooden paddle as a punishment. I got a lot of paddlings in the third grade because I kept forgetting to have Mom sign my completed homework.

I’ve always been theoretically willing to spank my kids, but in actuality it’s been quite rare. There always seems to be a more effective discipline (I’m big on allowing kids to reap the logical consequences of their actions if possible.)

22

I was spanked twice as a child, and I figure I deserved it both times. Or at least the incidents that provoked the punishment were very naughty.

One time was because I took a large marshmallow, cored the center and put pepper in it, then gave it to my sister to eat. Sheesh, I knew it was wrong and did it anyway!

I don’t spank as I don’t have kids. But if I did I might, in situations like the above. But I’d have a set number of swats, and I know how to make a striking sound that makes it worse, but doesn’t really hurt, except in one’s head.

23

That reminds me: Once, when my brother and I were in trouble and Grandma had gone to get the belt, my uncle advised us to yell as loud as we could when we were spanked, and Grandma wouldn’t hit as hard. Worked like a charm!

24

I agree on all counts. I don’t even remember why I was spanked, but it was probably no more than a half-dozen times over my entire childhood. Always with an open hand, never with a belt, wooden spoon or any implement. The shame was a far stronger inducement to good behavior, as I recall. A little corporal punishment, where appropriate, when a child is young will pay big dividends down the road. Now that our two eldest are 9 and 6, spanking is rarely necessary.

25

1.) Yes, but not that often. I was a pretty good kid, and also good at not getting caught :slight_smile:

2.) I will if the situation warrants it, but it won’t be the only or most useful tool in the parental toolbox.

26

Yes, my mother used a spatula on us from time to time when we did something really bad. She played tennis and had a really strong right arm.

I smacked my kids on the bottoms a few times when they were young and I needed to get their attention, but my husband was more likely to actually spank them - bend over, several swats to the bottom with my old sorority paddle. I think that was the source of our biggest arguments.

27

I was spanked on rare occasion as a child. Open-handed, on the butt – and I had always done something particularly troublesome to warrant it.

I’m not going to have children, so I really haven’t given any thought as to whether or not I’d spank them. I probably would, following my parents’ example. It doesn’t seem to have harmed me any.

28

Ditto. From about the age of 4 to about 16, although my mother actually did try to smack me once when I was like 20. I stopped her and pushed her away, so she pulled a knife on me. I left her house immediately and ducked into my car, which was pelted with dishes as I drove away. (You know, I can never find those “Remember that time you tried to knife me, Mom?” cards for Mother’s Day. More’s the pity.)

Anyway, she’d use belts of all sizes, although the super skinny kind were a favorite, shoes, spatulas, wooden paddles, and her other personal favorite, the branches of the weeping willow behind our house that she would make me pick myself, strip the leaves off, and hand to her. Or just a hand across the face or butt, and various other things.

I’d never know when or why I’d get it, but I can tell you I was an honor roll student, and usually did what I was told, rarely talked back, did my chores, blah blah blah. I’d hate to imagine what life would have been like if I hadn’t been doing what I was supposed to.

I’ve spanked both of my kids about 10 times each in their life, maybe less. Mostly keeping them from harming themselves when they were younger, although the younger one did get a couple of good swats on the behind for deliberate disobedience and/or back talk.

29

I only remember being spanked twice when I was little, and it was more with the goal of shaming or behavior modification than of actually inflicting punishment. Once, I ran a toy car or airplane (I don’t remember which), across a polished table and was rewarded with a quick smack on my backside. Another time, I was goaded by an older neighbor kid into saying “fuck”, which garnered an immediate, somewhat sharper rap on the buttside. I had no comprehension of what I was saying, and actually though I was saying “fack”. For a couple of years after I thought “fact” was a bad word.

30

Yes and Yes.

Period

31

What’s with the “period”? Are you saying that you have no doubts about spanking your kids, or that you think that having doubts about spanking your kids is silly, or something else that I’m not thinking of?

32

I think that you’ll find the great majority of people over, say, 25, will admit that they were spanked or whipped. It was the mentality then. It was also perpetual, at that time, because that’s what our grandparents did with our parents as children.

My four-year-old doesn’t even know what a spanking is. I pride myself on that.

33

I took that to mean that the spanking was PMI related.

34

^^ooops. Make that PMS. PMI has to do with mortgage insurance.:frowning:

35

Either my stupid hat is on or my acronym interpreter is broken. What’s PMI?

36

sorry. PMS

37

My mother seemed to think it was an olympic sport. Wooden hairbrushes were a favorite of hers. If memory serves me right, she broke on on my ass once.
And no, I wouldn’t spank my kids.

38

I wasn’t spanked, I was beaten. I lived with my mother’s sister and her husband for four years. My mother had recently divorced and was able to find a very good-paying job in Washington D.C., but it involved long hours and as a farm girl herself, she didn’t really want to try to raise me in a city. My aunt and uncle lived in a semi-rural area (which is now part of Atlanta :slight_smile: ) and offered to let me live with them and their son, who was two years younger than I am.

Big mistake.

I was my cousin’s whipping boy. Everything he did that I could possibly be blamed for, I was blamed for. When my mother sent us desks and desk lamps for Christmas one year, he broke his lamp within 5 minutes. My uncle walked over, took the broken lamp and placed it on my desk, giving my cousin my intact light. I was led to believe I was “unwanted” by my mother and that my aunt and uncle were taking care of me out of the kindness of their “Christian” hearts. I didn’t find out for many years that my mother was paying a substantial amount for my care.

This started when I was 5 years old.

My uncles idea of disipline was to take me into the basement, make me strip, and beat me with a switch. One year my mother (who visited on holidays and as often as she could) made a suprise visit. She always slept in the room with me when she visited. Time for bed, and I’m changing into my nightgown. I still remember the tone of my mother’s voice when she asked me what had happened to my back. I had scabs from my neck to my ankles. Mom walked into my aunt and uncles bedroom (without knocking) and picked my uncle up out of the bed by his t-shirt. (Mom was 5’, uncle was about 6’) She told him, in a very calm voice, “if you ever lay another hand on my daughter, I will kill you.”

She then flew back to D.C., resigned her job, and got another one (not as high-paying) in Atlanta. I was out of that household within 3 months if I remember correctly.

Mom occasionally spanked me (small belt, me fully clothed) but quickly learned restriction and taking my reading time away worked better.

There is a VERY large difference between spanking and beating/abuse. I have been there first hand. I think very young children sometimes need a swat on the behind to get their attention because they aren’t old enough yet to understand “the stove is hot”. Better a swat on the bottom than a scarred child. Once the age of reason is reached, spanking can usually be replaced by more appropriate punishments.

I have no children, and plan on keeping it that way. If I had them, I think mild spanking might be used early, but not often and not after age 4-5 or so.

39

  1. Yes.

  2. No. A hand smack will get the point across if all else fails.

40

Sorry to hear that, Snakescatlady. I already told about how my brother and I were spanked when we were little; I left out the part about how my brother was beaten by my stepdad. They are very different experiences, as you know.