Mother was very strict by today’s standards whenever we needed discipline. For 10 years – ages four through 14 – my sister and I were led to mother’s bedroom on average eight to 12 times a year, where we would be lectured and then our bottoms bared for a hard dose of corporal punishment.
Up until about eight, this was done with her hand but by the time we were 10 and from then on, the hairbrush was the sole instrument of correction.