My stepmum Denise is considerably younger than my dad, and so had far more modern ideas about parenting. She was not initially a believer in smacking children whatsoever – but Dad must have convinced her of its efficacy, as after a while she did very occasionally smack myself or my sister Mary.
These punishments were a walk in the park compared with the blistering spankings we got very regularly from our mum, but they were difficult in another way.