{"id":9193,"date":"2014-07-09T08:31:26","date_gmt":"2014-07-09T15:31:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/?p=9193"},"modified":"2014-07-09T08:45:25","modified_gmt":"2014-07-09T15:45:25","slug":"moms-story-early-spankings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/2014\/07\/09\/moms-story-early-spankings\/","title":{"rendered":"Mom’s Story: Early Spankings"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Paddle-distorted\"<\/a><\/h6>\n
<\/h6>\n
By the time I was growing up my mother was using the same principles she’d learned, but a more modern approach: a ping-pong paddle. (As the oldest child, I became quite familiar with it.)<\/h6>\n

Another installment excerpted from one of Mom’s letters:<\/strong><\/p>\n

A common method of punishment in my family was to be made to stand in a corner and face the wall. What probably was only minutes seemed like hours. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

I remember one day my dad was talking to a visitor. I have no idea what I had done but I was told to go to the corner and face the wall. He apparently forgot about me. I knew better than to leave or make any sound. Daddy finally noticed me and with the man still there, ordered me into another room. SUCH HUMILIATION. I will never forget it. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

In that era it really was true that CHILDREN WERE TO BE SEEN AND NOT HEARD.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Another form of punishment was to sit in a chair and NOT TALK for a required length of time. That was worse than standing in the corner.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

I like to talk. But my mother would say\u00a0BE STILL. It was never BE QUIET or DON’T TALK but BE STILL. If she was sewing, she said it with pins in her mouth. BEING STILL is still one of the hardest things for me to do!<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Another form of punishment was to be switched on bare legs, especially when you had to cut your own switch! <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Even though I knew my boundaries, one time I wandered too far from home. When my mother came looking for me she brought a knife. When she found me she told me to cut my own switch. I cut a very small one, but that wouldn’t do. I had to cut a much bigger one which my mother used to memorable effect. I went howling all the way home. You may be sure I never wandered beyond my boundaries again!<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

I guess these lessons have stood me in good stead, enabling me to learn early the consequences of disobedience. Better to have switched legs than undisciplined rebellion.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

I remember a newspaper columnist a long time ago who often wrote: THE BULK OF THE UNSPANKED* GENERATION HAS STILL TO GROW UP AND GOD HELP US WHEN IT DOES.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

I guess that is the reason I still firmly believe in the old adage: SPARE THE ROD AND SPOIL THE CHILD. However, if I had it to do over I would do a lot of parenting differently. Too bad we can’t get experience in that before we actually have to do it.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

________________<\/p>\n

* UNSPANKED is the word Mom used. My computer spell checker, however, didn’t recognize it. Too modern.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reminiscences of harder moments that built toward character, and for the generations to follow. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9193"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9193"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9193\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9749,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9193\/revisions\/9749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}