My parents were the greatest. They treated my sisters and I with love and tenderness. We had a wonderful life and all have gone on to be success stories in later life.
The following happened when I was 11. My friend Sarah and I were at our cottage with my mom one summer week. My dad was working and it was what we did for most of the summer, with him visiting us on weekends.
We had three rules at the cottage. 1) We were not allowed to go swimming without permission; 2) We could not leave the property without permission, and 3) We were not allowed on the roof. I add this as our roof was easy to climb up on, because of a low garage and an old TV antenna mast.
My mom took my two sisters with her to the market and left my friend and I on the promise we would stay out of the water and out of trouble. We promised, of course, to be good and watched them disappear up the driveway and into town.
Well, after a boring half hour we talked each other into climbing on the roof to see the view and – well, just to be naughty and enjoy the risk. I told my friend if we got caught we would get in big trouble but at 11, we believed we were invincible.
So up we went onto the roof and enjoyed the thrill of disobeying – and the view, of course. We stayed there for a while and then decided we should get down before mom got home. We were – at least that’s what we thought – successful.
When my mom came home, she acted perfectly normally and called us to help unload groceries etc. She never said a word.
After about a half hour or so, as we were swimming, she called us to the big bedroom off the beach and asked us if we had anything to tell her. Of course, we said ‘no’.
She looked directly at me and asked if we were naughty little girls when she was gone. I said: “No way, mom, we didn’t do anything – we didn’t go swimming or anything.” Then she asked Sarah and she also lied perfectly like I had.
Well, that should have been the end of the story – but it wasn’t. My mom looked at me and then said, as I died a million deaths: “Well, who were those two little blonde girls on our roof when I was gone, then? Mrs Dalrymple told me she saw two kids on our roof.”
Oh, how I hated that neighbour now and I knew we were dead! As we both looked at each other, Sarah started to whimper a bit. I thought she was a suck but decided lying any more was useless. We had been caught.
My mom did the usual lecture thing about how dangerous it was and how disappointed she was with us. Then the bomb. “Girls, you have both disobeyed and lied about what you did today, and I think I am going to warm up a couple of little bottoms and hopefully you will learn from this experience.” She told us to wait in the room and that she would be back in a few minutes.
When she left, Sarah and I were in tears and talked about what was going to happen. I told Sarah that my mom didn’t spank us very often (it had been a long time since I last got spanked) but when she did, it hurt a lot. We were both so scared. Sarah told me she sometimes got a spanking at home but she had never had one from anyone else but her mom or dad before, so she was even more scared than me.
My mom soon came back, shut the door to the room and walked over and pulled the curtains closed. In her hand was the dreaded wooden spoon she used on us every time.
Well, the begging started, the pleas of forgiveness and how sorry we were but my mom didn’t say anything. She just sat down and called us both to her sides. She told us that she was sorry for having to punish us but that it would be a life lesson for both of us.
She then asked Sarah if she would like to be first or second. Sarah cried and said to punish me first. My mom said ‘fine’ and sent Sarah to stand about 5ft away. My mom then looked me right in the eye and asked if I was ready. I was crying but I knew to say yes.
She reached up (she was still sitting) and slid the straps of my bathing suit over my shoulders and down to my waist. I grabbed my suit and begged her not to take it off in front of Sarah but my mom just waited and told me to move my hands to my back. Finally, I did it and she slid my suit right down to my ankles, then made me step out of it.
I was mortified. I was going to get a spanking at 11 and there was my friend to see me naked, right in front of her. I don’t remember much else, except that I was soon staring at the floor, my little butt in the air and then that big spoon cracked down on one of my cheeks. I howled but couldn’t move as my mom gave me a dozen or so whacks all over my bottom and the top of my thighs (on the sit-down part). It seemed like forever but it was finally over and I knew it was the worst spanking I ever had had.
Then it was Sarah’s turn. My mom took down her bathing suit so she was naked as well. She howled as she was put over my mom’s knee. She got the same dose as I did – then it was over. My mom told us to sit on the bed till she came back, and left.
It was the most humiliating 10 minutes of my life. Sarah and I just kept crying and looking at each other, both of us wanting to crawl into a hole, both of us still stark naked, trying to hide our private parts in a useless attempt to cover up. Somehow, being undressed for a spanking was way more embarrassing than seeing each other naked in the shower or the bedroom when we are doing it ourselves.
When my mom finally came back, she asked if we had learned anything and we both explained quickly that we would never lie or disobey her again. She looked at us as if we were lying again – then told us both to get our suits back on, go out and play and swim.
We got dressed in ten seconds flat and headed outside. Both of us had red spoon marks below our suits and my sisters found time to tease us a little bit about it.
My mom never told my dad or Sarah’s parents about what happened and in fact she never mentioned it again. I know that two 11-year-olds got a lesson in parental discipline that afternoon that to this day I have not forgotten, and to be honest I don’t think I ever lied to my parents again.
Sarah and I were very, very good for the rest of the week and had a great time together. She told me that she would love to come back to our cottage any time, which she did on many more occasions.
I look back now that I have kids of my own and realise just how wise my mom was in dealing with her naughty daughter – and her equally naughty friend.
Contributor: Cheryl