When you was in trouble as a kid , what was your punishment ?

Hyperion said:
Some of my younger co-workers are horrified when I tell them the stories. I'm 62 and still working with a group of software engineers, me and one other guy are the 2 oldest, he's also 62.

They are mortified that actual physical punishment existed and that we somehow survived it! We survived the beatings and totally deserved it!
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There is a difference between a spanking and a beating they are not synonymous. While indeed some of us did earn the occasional spanking. No child deserves a beating. (Except maybe one who has been bullying another child who finally fights back). Tho sadly many of those bullies are taught at home that might makes right by parents who never think to inform them that sooner or later they will either run into a worse bully they than them or into someone who refuses to be a passive victim.
 
My dad was a softie so my mom was in charge of taking care of the punishments. When I was very young I would get spanked on the back of my thighs with a belt. It didn't happen much though since I was afraid to get in trouble. When I got older, my punishment was being grounded. However I had two older sisters who my parents were very strict with and my dad admitted to me a few years ago that once I reached a certain age they had tired of "parenting" so I didn't get punished much after I was around 12 or so. I never got in much trouble after that anyway (that they know of at least). Once I hit high school I never had a curfew or anything like that either.
 
Spankings from my late dad, but it was as much mental as physical. (I paraphrase his comments)

Step 1, "go to the bathroom and shut the door, I will be their soon." He never hurried, he always let me 'sweat'! Step 2 Finally, he would come in and we would have a talk about what I did wrong, then it would go one of two ways, Step 3A he would warn me "never again or you will get a spanking for sure" and I could go to my room for a hour or two. ... Step 3B...or he would say "when you do things wrong you have to pay a price" Then he would take off his belt, I would lay across his knees and let the spanking begin. If I fought much, he would pull down my pants and really give it to me...

I did not get many spankings, but I had a bad habit of breaking windows, throwing rocks, baseballs, knifes, etc. I ALWAYS got a spanking on those days. I learned as I grew up that the reason dad didn't come in the bathroom right away, irrelevant of the mental job it did on me, is he did not want to be angry when he came in the bathroom. They stopped when I turned 12 and they went to being grounded for a week or two.

As I had kids of my own, I always remember to not punish your child when you are angry because you may do or say things you will regret later. I was always very close to my mom and dad. Dad was tough and set a high standard, but now I know was good for me.
 
It depended on what the infraction was and which parent 'caught' me.
With Mom her mood was main factor, she'd spank us (her bare hand to our butts) one day for something she laughed about two days before. She'd scream and rant without saying anything that could help us make different better choices of behavior in the future. Sometimes we were sent to stand in a corner. (When more of than one of us involved my sisters would race to get the one with the hole that allowed us to see outside, since they were older and taller it did me no good---the hole above my head.)

Dad had set rules and consequences for disobeying. Consequences were generally administered calmly without verbal humiliation or criticism--especially with me the youngest. That was because i learned early to weigh whether the 'crime' was worth the 'punishment' and often fessed up to Dad (rather than be tattled on or otherwise found out). i confessed to Dad because his reaction was predictable---he would punish as his own guidelines instructed not based on what mood he was in.
 
hollydolly said:
well they..certainly my father deserved to be locked up... but my mother made it clear to use that if we told the police ( and my brother and I did run to the police station one time, and the police came to the house but my mother denied anything had happened.. ).. that we kids would all be sent to live apart in separate children's homes... and we would be responsible for the break up of the family!

As kids we lived with better the devil we knew .. and having been placed in Foster homes already on several occasions we didn't like it.. so we stuck with it.. but as we got into our teens the beatings became much worse.. and ultimately my mother took her own life.. ( so much more to say but not on this forum)..
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I was class aide for my son's kindergarten class, one day a week. There was a little girl who I took to the bathroom one day and she wanted me to see the scars from how her mother beat her. Welts all over her thighs. I realized I couldn't be seen with an undressed child in a bathroom, got her back to the class. On my way to the office to report this, I met the principle ass't in the hallway. Told him story. He said the mother is a 300 lb. heroin addict who was extremely aggressive and he was not going to. He was afraid!!!!

I wasn't afraid, but it caused me to think of my former foster care job; how we "rescued" a family of five kids. That night, the youngest was scalded to death by the new foster mother.

I didn't report poor little Ebony's mother. I was afraid to---not for me, but for Ebony. What situation would I be sending her to? Would it be worse?
 
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Pepper said:
I was class aide for my son's kindergarten class, one day a week. There was a little girl who I took to the bathroom one day and she wanted me to see the scars from how her mother beat her. Welts all over her thighs. I realized I couldn't be seen with an undressed child in a bathroom, got her back to the class. On my way to the office to report this, I met the principle ass't in the hallway. Told him story. He said the mother is a 300 lb. heroin addict who was extremely aggressive and he was not going to. He was afraid!!!!

I wasn't afraid, but it caused me to think of my former foster care job; how we "rescued" a family of five kids. That night, the youngest was scalded to death by the new foster mother.

I didn't report poor little Ebony's mother. I was afraid too---not for me, but for Ebony. What situation would I be sending her to? Would it be worse?
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Poor you.. this is a terrible situation to find yourself in... Nowadays things are different , it's illegal to smack children in the UK, and children are encouraged to Tel.. and are taken seriously..unlike back in my day... Teachers could see our bruises but they never asked anything of us..so altho' they knew it was happening they didn't want to get involved

That's not to say today even with those laws in the Uk ..that children are not beaten behind closed doors.despite the laws, and there's a whole raft of children nowadays being killed by their parents.. even in my childhood despite the prevalence of childhood assaults and beatings we rarely heard of a child actually being killed.., but today whether it's because of drug taking or mental illness.. there are far more children being beaten to death by their parents.. :mad:
 
I really don't remember. I do remember though that if my dad raised his voice in to a holler, then he meant business.
My mother, she used to come after my brother w/a hanger... thanks to Joan Crawford lol. And, he would just laugh while running from her.
 
To tell you the truth I think I gave my parents more punishment than they gave me. When I was younger we had a maple board paddle with air holes in it - something grandpa made. I don’t ever remember getting swat but it was a great warning. Later on it was always you’re grounded forever then I would run away.

Now my niece & I take care of Mom & don't think twice about it.
 
Honestly, I didn't need punishing as a child. I tried to look ahead, and if asked to do something I knew to do it "yesterday".
One time, about 13 years old, my girlfriend's older sister cut my longer hair for me. When I got home, my Dad took one look, never said a word, but I could tell he was very disappointed in me for doing it without their consent. It stung me worse than a punishment, his disappointment in me. I don't recall it ever happening again.
 
Up to 9, I lived with my mom and dad and when I would get into trouble, I was punished, but never hit. I once broke my mom’s favorite vase by throwing a ball in the house after my mom had just told me to take it outside. That cost me a week in my room after school each day, Monday through Friday without watching TV. I could only come downstairs for dinner. The other time was when I ran over the neighbor’s flowers on my bike trying to show off. For that, I had to give the neighbor a letter of apology and $3 out of the bank in my room.

At 9, I went to live with my grandparents and we lived on a farm in the country, so there really wasn’t any trouble to get into, except I said the word “damn” and grandma heard it and even though she talked to me about “cussing,” as she called it, I wasn’t allowed any treats or desserts for a whole week. You know what it was like to go without a candy bar for a week when you’re 11 years old?

I don’t know why some parents felt it necessary to hit their children and especially if they used a weapon like a belt. Maybe that’s the way they were punished whenever they messed up.
 
Been There said:
Up to 9, I lived with my mom and dad and when I would get into trouble, I was punished, but never hit. I once broke my mom’s favorite vase by throwing a ball in the house after my mom had just told me to take it outside. That cost me a week in my room after school each day, Monday through Friday without watching TV. I could only come downstairs for dinner. The other time was when I ran over the neighbor’s flowers on my bike trying to show off. For that, I had to give the neighbor a letter of apology and $3 out of the bank in my room.

At 9, I went to live with my grandparents and we lived on a farm in the country, so there really wasn’t any trouble to get into, except I said the word “damn” and grandma heard it and even though she talked to me about “cussing,” as she called it, I wasn’t allowed any treats or desserts for a whole week. You know what it was like to go without a candy bar for a week when you’re 11 years old?

I don’t know why some parents felt it necessary to hit their children and especially if they used a weapon like a belt. Maybe that’s the way they were punished whenever they messed up.
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Or, messed-up individuals who want to show they're more Powerful than children.
 
just to bring a little levity to a very serious subject... :D

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Sent to bathroom, told to strip naked and step-father beat me with a whip. With my mother pounding on the door and hollering "Stop it Bill, you're killing him". Quite naturally, that convinced me I was literally being killed. That happened from age 4-15.
Other times, being locked in a closet for 2-3 days with only bread and water. No room to stretch-out so it was badly cramped.
I recall my younger sisters shoving dry corn flakes under the door for me to eat.
 
JaniceM said:
In some cases it can be favoritism, which is bad enough, but in other cases it can be scapegoat/golden-child.
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I was the one who got most of the beatings.. my brother next.. and the 2 younger girls never got hit at all.. so when my sister 3 years younger got her first and only slap when she was about 18 .. after doing something really bad.. you would have thought the world had caved in.. she got one slap.. and she screamed and ranted for days..

..she was daddy's girl.. she looked just like him, still does.. she would deliberately invent things to tell my father , knowing he would beat me up for it ... all lies.. but she did it because she could.. and he never questioned her!!
 
iksentrik said:
Always wonder why one child gets punished and their sibling(s) don't?
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Adults (parents, grandparents, aunts/uncles, teachers, religious instructors) often 'cast' a child in a role at early age and resist perceiving anything that contradicts their judgement. Common roles are Golden Child (who can do no wrong, but if they are caught doing wrong to the parent it must be someone else's fault somehow); the Jester; the Scapegoat (most often assigned the blame for any musdeed if the Golden one).

Happens for a variety reasons most of which i don't understand in my heart any more than i understand bigotry of any kind, tho after observing the people involved i could probably explain intellectually, psychologically, explain it.

Sometimes it drives a wedge between siblings, sometimes it draws them closer. I saw it on both sides of extended family and to lesser degree within my immediate family. Another odd but common thing is what i call 'good child syndrome'. Often a family will come to tolerate the antics of a 'difficult' child, disciplining only for serious things (ones that bring public shame mostly) while the child who obeys 99% of the time us held to higher standard, is criticized and disciplined for minor infractions.

You see it in classrooms sometimes too. Some Teachers who shugged off or even laughed at smart ass remarks by popular kids would get seriously stressed if i raised issue relevant to the class work that they either had no answer for or wanted to avoid talking about. Because i was a good student that generally was no trouble it was somehow more of a threat to their authority.
 

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