As a mum raising two daughters during the 1980s, I was certainly no stranger to smacking bottoms when it was needed. I demanded – and mostly got – high standards of behaviour, with respect, truthfulness and obedience at the heart of what I taught my girls.
However, children are children and of course they didn’t always measure up. Both their father and I were firm believers in corporal punishment for the more serious offences and because of their sex, the discipline of our girls was left up to me.