This story was one my mom shared with me when I was older, and it took place shortly after my parents got married and before my oldest brother was born – probably 1974 or 1975.
My mom had been a teacher for a couple of years, and she taught 6th grade (all subjects) at a K-6 neighbourhood school. All of the kids lived within a 15-minute drive of the school, but most were closer than that. As a small local school, there was only one class of each grade – so , barring students moving in or out, the classes were much the same from year to year.
This also meant that many of the teachers knew kids from outside of their own classes. In this particular year, my mom’s class had three girls – Carol, Laura, and Julie – who were just plain nasty; the stereotypical ‘mean girls’. My mom had seen how they acted during their two previous years and she was not looking forward to having them in her own classroom.
The girls had bad attitudes and were smug and condescending to their peers, but not really anything for which they could be formally punished. They just had nasty dispositions – their behaviour in class was fine, though, and they didn’t really commit any spankable offences. Until, one day, they did.
There was a girl who was new to the school that year named Lucy. All of the other kids in the class had been together for years, most of them since kindergarten, so the new girl was having trouble fitting in. To make things harder for her, Lucy was painfully shy. And to make things even harder for her, the ringleader of the mean girls, Carol, decided to have some fun at Lucy’s expense.
They produced a note, alleged to be from one of the cute boys in class. The note informed Lucy that he liked her and would like to go out with her, hold her hand – all of the normal 6th grade stuff. The girls told Lucy that the boy had asked them to give her the note and they egged her on to go and talk to him.
So that is what she did – unfortunately, with other kids around. Of course, the boy had no idea what Lucy was talking about, and told her so. She insisted he had sent the note. He insisted that he hadn’t. She ran off, crying.
After recess, word of all of this got to my mother. She investigated the story, put all the pieces together and knew that she finally had a reason to paddle those three girls. She ordered them to the cloakroom, where corporal punishment was administered in those days – out of sight of the rest of the class, but not out of earshot.
Mom picked up her paddle and excused herself to the cloakroom. The other kids in the class could barely contain their glee – they had had enough of the mean girls’ shenanigans too.
Once in the cloakroom, Mom dressed the girls down, telling them what she thought of their behaviour and attitudes. Julie and Laura had the decency to look contrite, but Carol remained haughty and unrepentant. My mom decided to save her for last.
Julie went first. Mom told her to bend over and grab her ankles. She replied: “Yes, ma’am” and did as she was told. My mom reared back and gave her a mighty wallop. Trust me, she could swing that paddle hard when she had a mind to! Julie let out a yelp but maintained her position.
My mom gave her three more hard whacks. After the fourth, Julie jumped out of position, rubbing her butt. My mom ordered her back down and then gave the last whack. The girl was crying quietly and rubbing her bottom after her paddling, but took her punishment the best of any of them.
Laura went next. She tried the begging route, but my mom was having none of it. She also got five hard whacks, jumping out of position after each one. She was openly sobbing by the third.
Then it was the turn of Carol, the ringleader. She was hysterical and completely uncooperative. She was yelling that the teacher couldn’t spank her and that her mom wouldn’t let it happen, and generally carrying on. My mom told her that she was embarrassing herself and that she ought to take her punishment like a big girl. Even the other girls were encouraging Carol to just get it over with.
Carol, however, still refused to assume the position. My mom eventually told her that if she wouldn’t take her whacks in the cloakroom, she would be sent to the principal’s office. The latter had a fierce reputation as a paddler – you did not want to get spanked by him!
At this threat, Carol finally relented. My mom gave her the first whack. She jumped up, rubbing her behind and dancing around. She then refused to get back in the position again. In the end, my mom had Julie and Laura hold Carol’s hands in place against the wall and she finally took all of the whacks. When my mom tells this story these days, at this point she usually makes some comment about how Carol carried and was even worse than me when being spanked. I maintain that I was not nearly as bad as my mom claims!
Unfortunately for Carol, the shame and disgrace was not over. After the fifth swat, my mom noticed that Carol had a large wet spot over her crotch and a dark streak down both legs. She had peed herself, either during her pre-spanking hysterics or during the punishment itself.
At first, Carol didn’t notice – but as she settled down she suddenly cried out: “I peed my pants!” and began sobbing again. Laura and Julie were sent back to class while my mom tried to get Carol calmed down. She refused to leave the cloakroom. “They’ll see – everyone will see,” she kept saying between sobs.
Mom had very much wanted to knock Carol down a couple of pegs but at this point she began to feel some sympathy for the wretched girl. She gave Carol a hug and told her that she couldn’t stay in the cloakroom all day. Mom ordered her to the nurse’s office to get a change of clothing, and promised that she would order the other children not to tease her Carol on her return. Mom kept her word but let’s be real – it was probably a different matter when the kids got let out in the playground.
The three girls were given a discipline slip, outlining the events for their parents, with the instruction that it had to be signed and returned.
Laura brought the slip back signed with nothing else said about it. Julie brought the slip back and then verbally apologised to my mom. She also gave her a written apology, which also said that she had been spanked, bare bottom, with a belt at home by her mother. She had a similar note that she, humbly, gave to Lucy. Unfortunately for me, my mom thought this was a great idea and in the future I had to give a note detailing my spanking to the offended party, as outlined in another story of mine.
After this incident, Julie broke away from the other two girls and became a much more pleasant student. I’m told, although I’m too young to remember, that she babysat for us a few times while she was in high school.
To the surprise of no-one, Carol’s mom was livid. She came to the school and pitched a fit to the principal, who was not impressed. He told her that Carol had needed a good spanking for quite some time and that he was glad she had gotten it. Carol’s behaviour improved slightly for a little while, probably because she was too ashamed to bully anyone, but before long she was back to her old tricks.
Contributor: Jillian