I’ve read a couple of accounts on your website from people who were sent elsewhere by their parents to receive corporal punishment. I note that most of them arise from somewhat tragic circumstances such as family deaths or disabilities, but in my case I was never quite sure why I was sent to my auntie’s to have my bottom smacked.
On the one hand, perhaps Mum was too soft-hearted to spank me herself (although obviously not too soft-hearted to delegate that job to others!) – maybe my Auntie Meg had a better reputation as a spanker of misbehaved children – I don’t know. My dad did work away a lot (he was a sales rep) and in any case, I think that in our family at least, corporal punishment was seen as a woman’s job for some reason.