s/o: How were you punished as a child?

[indimom]

The hot sauce and cold shower thread got me wondering. How were you punished as a child??

I was a child of the 70s and 80s.
My parents did use forms of corporal punishment.

We were spanked on occasion, mostly with a bare hand, but occasionally with the handle end of a fly swatter. (Always mom and not hard enough to leave a mark).

I was the only child spanked bare bottom (once by mom) for getting off the bus at a friends house in K without permission-I lied to the busdriver and claimed I had permission. (I got the bus driver reprimanded and my parents were NOT happy. By far the worst punishment I ever got.)

We had our mouths washed out with soap for foul language or backtalk.

We were made to write pages from the dictionary.

We were given time limits to finish our vegetables or be sent to bed straight from the table.

My dad scared the life out of me once when I was warned repeatedly to quit walking in front of the television during football. I did it one too many times, he picked me up (in just a pajama dress) and carried my upstairs and tossed me out the backdoor into the snow, then pretended to lock the door. This has been a source of much family humor over the years, but I was terrified at the time.

I just realized I "might" have been their problem child.

 

[AKL_Megs]

I had a LOT of things taken away. I was made to go to bed early. I was made to do chores. As a YOUNG child, I did get dishsoap in my mouth.

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

My parents tried everything. Nothing worked with me.

It took the 10th Mountain Division and a few deployments to straighten me out. I was a self centered smart-alec growing up.

 

[MissUndastood]

My parents believed in corporal punishment as well. I grew up in the 70's and I was usually spanked with a bare hand. On the rare occasion my dad would use "the strap". I attended a very strict Catholic school and the nuns were worse then my dad. I harbor no resentment towards any of them because I think I was the problem child from hell.

FTR I have never hit any of my children but have been known to speak rather loudly.

 

[Pakey]

I'm a child of the 50's and 60's.

Most of the time I was put into a timeout or grounded as I got older (and was never let out early for good behavior).

We had to stay at the dinner table until our plate was finished, no matter how long it was. I once spent the night sitting at the table with a bowl of now old clam chowder in front of me. Every time I nodded off, my father would shake me and wake me up. The sun was coming up when I finally caved and ate it. I don't think my dad would have given in.

My mom said I was a good kid until I hit the teen years so I guess that's why I don't remember being in trouble much.

My favorite was a girlfriend of mine. Her mother scratched her face all up with a dry piece of toast. She mouthed off when her mom had that piece of toast in her hand and ended up looking like a cat had jumped her.

 

[ols386]

When I was younger I got a spanking if I mis-behaved. Not for every single time I mis-behaved, I guess just when I did something really terrible. As I got older, I would be grounded or have something that I really liked or really wanted to do taken away.

I certainly don't feel that I was abused. I just think back then, spanking wasn't seen as abuse, as maybe it is today, by some.

I didn't spank my kids, but there were a few times when I gave them a swat on the rear-end.

 

[krcit]

I don't think I ever really got in trouble I was far from perfect but I never got caught I was afraid enough of my dad that if I heard him say my first AND middle name, I was shaking in my shoes. I was never hit even once. My brothers are a lot older than me and they got in trouble all the time and my dad would hit them occasionally.

 

[SydSim]

Child of late 60's/early 70's. Because of the mistakes of older siblings, all of my punishments were geared toward making sure that I didn't get pregnant

Broke a dish while washing dishes - can't go outside for a month.

Got a "C" on a paper - can't talk on the phone for a month.

Needles to say, I didn't get pregnant

I was a good student and graduated from college, got married and finally did get pregnant a year later

 

[indimom]

I forgot about the teen years. We were also grounded (Well, I wasn't. I had learned by then, but both my older sisters were.)
One missed her junior prom because of a grounding. Another was grounded for a month. No exceptions, no early pardon.

And if we argued over the television, my dad would turn the entire set to the wall. No tv for anyone (except mom and dad after we went to bed I suspect).

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

...We had to stay at the dinner table until our plate was finished, no matter how long it was. I once spent the night sitting at the table with a bowl of now old clam chowder in front of me. Every time I nodded off, my father would shake me and wake me up. The sun was coming up when I finally caved and ate it. I don't think my dad would have given in...

Similar eating rules, but we didn't have to stay at the table. Whatever we left on our plates had to be eaten before we got anything else. Skip the Brussels sprouts at dinner? Guess what was for breakfast?

 

[quasar4legs]

Child of the 60's here and I was never spanked as a child.
I actually can't remember any punishments, I guess for the most part I did as I was told.
My younger sister got yelled at a few times a year but it was pretty calm in our house most of the time.

Quasar

 

[rie'smom]

My Dad yelled at me one time. My Mom yelled a few times. That was it. I was abnormally good until I hit 16, then got pregnant, and had a baby at 17. When my son was born, I turned good again.

My kids may have been slapped once or twice had things taken away and were sent to their rooms. They were normal.

 

[Magpie]

I was born in the early 70's. Mostly my mother screamed at me a lot. A LOT. I remember timing it once, and I'd been standing in the hall for almost an hour, listening to her rant at the top of her lungs before her voice gave out.

There was a period where she took to spanking me, first with her hand, then with a belt. That didn't last too long, since it only had the effect of making my behaviour worse. And once she slapped me and split my lip, because I said I didn't love her.

Then there was the whole, "Your awful behaviour is making me sick," routine. That usually came after the screaming, when she'd take to her bed with a hot water bottle. I'd have to apologize to her then.

Still, I DO love her. And our relationship is improving every year. I also have a lot of compassion for her - she's had a really rough go of it in life. She treated me a lot better than her parents treated her.

I just remember promising myself when I was 11 that I would not raise my children the same way. And I haven't!

 

[scottishduffy]

Child of the 80's.

As a young child I was spanked. When I got a little older it was mainly grounding, being sent to my room for the better part of the day, and spanking only for the most grave offenses.

As a teen it was loss of priviledges and grounding.

 

[bigbabyblues]

I was spanked a couple of times (with a hand), and I got a mouthful of mustard if I said a forbidden word. I hated mustard, still do, and my grandma used that instead of soap.

 

[gingajane]

I remember a lot of yelling. I remember a few spankings(once on my bare, wet rump). I was 3rd in line so I really was good at reading my mom and being creatively sneaky. I was a product of the 70's and 80's. No bad feelings towards my mom. I think she could still take me down and beat me if she had to! Having a bit of fear of the parents is not really a bad thing. Better than trying to be your child's "buddy"...IMHO...

 

[wdwmom0f3]

I remember getting spanked once when I was about 4 or 5, by my Dad. He cried more than me. Anyway, after that I was never spanked again. I was lectured, and sometimes I had rather have had a beating than sit there for what seemed like hours listening to my mom talk to me about what I did.

They would still take things away or threaten to, but I really never got into trouble much at all. I tell my kids that I was the perfect child, and never got into trouble. They must get their behavior from their daddy!

 

[HonnyDipp]

I grew up in the 80's. My BigMama (grandmom) forced us to go get our own switches from outside the thinner the better. At home, I got spanked with a belt by my dad, and my mom would spend the rest of the day yelling at him for spanking me. The next day I would get a new Barbie. When I reached my teen years, I was grounded, no tv or hanging out with friends.

 

[Angelhalo]

I honestly don't recall ever being punished. Either my parents were very lenient or I was a really boring child. LOL!

 

[piperdown]

Child of the 70s & 80s here, and I was spanked with a belt. A western/cowboy style belt with buckle removed.

Mom administered punishments, and I was probably spanked 3-4 times a year, mostly for what she deemed attitude and/or disrespectful behavior. I think some would consider this abuse, however, it was huge step up from how my mother was raised.

She and her siblings should have been removed from their home, and their parents jailed. But it was the 50s and 60s in rural Oklahoma, and people "minded their own business."

Mom made a deliberate effort not to carry on the cycle of abuse, but her beliefs of what was acceptable behavior for children was warped by her own childhood.

I will admit that I have spanked (bare hand only) 2-3 times in my child's lifetime, and I've regretted each one. Hitting instills fear, and I don't want my child to fear me as I feared my mother.