What is one of the crustiest things your parents did as punishment?

Down in Florida in the early 60's, if my sister or I, left milk out on the counter while we were eating a snack or something, and it got spoiled or sour, my mother would make us drink a glass of sour milk as punishment. Usually with the warning of, "Maybe you'll learn from this and not do it again!"
 

squatting dog said:
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I remember my mother having one of these. Even though they were illegal.

She'd threaten me all the time with it, but never used it.

One day, when she was out playing bridge, I walked to where she kept it. Picked it up and calmly carried to the Hudson River. I had a great throwing arm and that cat ' nine tails became history.

Strangely enough, not a word about it was ever spoken.

Moral: do not threaten me, ever.
 
Mom would do the just wait until your father gets home thing and then Dad would whack us with his belt. But before he did he would make that whip cracking sounds by folding it in half and snapping it together. Must be part of the show. He swore a lot and early on we learned how to from him. One time he was getting into the snapping sound and I turned around and said just f'ing do it. He did. Ouch.
 

Been There said:
Patched things up? Are you saying that you may have deserved a few whippings? If I’m being intrusive, sorry.
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Well, looking back, there was at least 3 times I might have earned a whipping.
One was after I got caught chasing my brother with Dads 45 ACP pretending to shoot it. I didn't know it was loaded. (glad now I didn't know how to cock it).

Number 2 was when we got caught sword fighting. I had the big carving knife, and my brother had the bread knife. (which was now missing huge chunks of it's blade).

Number three was when I made a homemade bow and arrow and shot my brother in the back. (who knew a straight stick with no feathers could fly that straight).
 
I was not a problem for my parents. I only had the threat of having to eat all the liver and onions for dinner until I ate it. I would sit at the table until it was too cold and my father would give up and let me get up from the table without eating it all.
 
I don't remember ever being punished, definitely not physically. Maybe they would tell me they were "disappointed" or something like that, but even that was very rare. I was one of the lucky kids whose parents thought they were the cat's meow. From reading this threat, I can see how lucky I was. I just thought having loving and supportive parents was normal.

If I hated a food, they certainly did not force me to eat it! That is child abuse! My mother took pride in her cooking and wanted everyone to like it. She would just substitute something else. That may be one reason I don't have eating (or weight) problems.

I considered them a little on the stingy side, especially in my teens. But that pretty much goes with the territory. 😆
 
Rae said:
I was not a problem for my parents. I only had the threat of having to eat all the liver and onions for dinner until I ate it. I would sit at the table until it was too cold and my father would give up and let me get up from the table without eating it all.
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Today, I think it's understood that the liver is not the health food I was taught that it was. It's the organ that strains out all the toxins we unintentionally take into our bodies. I read that somewhere. I guess it's true, but never bothered to pursue it further, because there's no way I would eat liver anyway.

In college once I tried to force myself to eat it, but could not get past two bites. When I hunted and killed a deer or elk, I always left the liver with the gut pile when I field dressed the animal. I categorize liver as part of the offal.
 
My parents mostly didn't believe in punishment and would give lectures to us about how they believed in letting children make their own decisions and trusted us to make good ones.
But they failed to live up to their beliefs when I was 15 and unexpectedly didn't come home until 3 AM. Then they sent me away to relatives in the country and threatened that because I was a bad influence on my siblings I couldn't come home (which made no sense at all since my sibs were older and would scoff at the idea of imitating me, ha), and mailed me a bunch of boarding school brochures.
That only lasted a month, and if it hadn't been done as punishment it was actually rather fun because I learned to milk a cow, and got to stand on a wagon behind farm equipment and stab a hook into bales of hay as they popped out and pull them onto the wagon to be stacked by my cousin. Also detasseled corn, which had a lot of comraderie time spent singing 99 bottles of beer on the wall with a truckload of other kids (not to mention getting paid money!).
I don't remember any of the specifics but once my parents took all of us to a psychologist for a family therapy session, but my dad was pissed at the result because instead of "fixing" us, the therapist said we were ok and acting like normal teenagers.
 
Never really got punished or grounded or hit, but when my Dad raised his voice...you listened. That was enough to straighten you out right away...his big gruff voice. Now, my Mother on the other hand used a hanger. It was the Joan Crawford days, so she gave it a try. Not on us girls, but on my brother. He was growing taller and quicker than her...so it was kind of comical. And, he'd laugh at her. Then, she'd start laughing.

Thankfully , we all turned out ok.
 
When I was very young my dad would cuff me, typically a smack in the head or arm, or he'd give my ear a good twist. Mom's approach was a stern squeezing of whatever body part she could grab. Third grade my dad was in a bad car wreck and everything changed, dont think either parent ever disaplined me again, and boy did I need it.

My oldest brother tried to take over my disapline at that point but he didn't live with us so it was a challenge to keep me in line. His approach was brutal, I walked into the house one day and he pushed me in the chest so hard I flew back into the screen door tearing it right off the hinges, we had this little porch and the door and I both slid across the porch into the yard. I did what any smart kid would do, ran like hell. Had to sleep in the dog pen a few times too, that really wasnt so bad, more peaceful than in the house. I suffered a lot of bruises from him and probably deserved twice what I got.
 
As a young kid I had a problem with breaking windows. I think some of the early ones were legitimate victims of me learning to throw. Throwing was a 'required' skill for young boys in my town and I was determined to get very good at throwing rocks, sticks, and even a few baseballs. Unfortunately, in the early years, windows kept getting in the way of some of my throws. We lived in a small town, and I quickly got a reputation as a window breaker. Now my dad got fed up with my bad throws and started to spank me when it happened.
 
squatting dog said:
Well, looking back, there was at least 3 times I might have earned a whipping.
One was after I got caught chasing my brother with Dads 45 ACP pretending to shoot it. I didn't know it was loaded. (glad now I didn't know how to cock it).

Number 2 was when we got caught sword fighting. I had the big carving knife, and my brother had the bread knife. (which was now missing huge chunks of it's blade).

Number three was when I made a homemade bow and arrow and shot my brother in the back. (who knew a straight stick with no feathers could fly that straight).
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Holy Smokes. I have to agree with dad to the point that in your case punishment was earned, but using a leather strap, I don’t agree. I used to think that parents who spanked with using their hand was ok. I don’t understand why parents think inflicting pain will prevent his or her child from misbehaving in the future.
 
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Been There said:
Holy Smokes. I have to agree with dad to the point that in your case punishment was earned, but using a leather strap, I don’t agree. I used to think that parents who spanked with using their hand was ok. I don’t understand why parents think inflicting pain will prevent his or her child from misbehaving in the future.
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I never whipped my kids. Maybe because I was whipped with belts and extension cords by my mother. My father never touched us, he could just give us a look and we settled down.
 
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I never had a spanking. My parents would talk to us if we misbehaved and occasionally my dad would raise his voice. I mostly did what I was told. I actually had wonderful, loving parents and a great childhood.
 

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