I am the eldest of three children, and as I got older my parents occasionally used me as a babysitter for my two younger siblings. At the time of this story, I would be 12 years old, my younger brother was six and my little sister just three.
We all attended a local church and one Saturday, my parents were invited to a brunch by an elderly couple who were celebrating 50 years of marriage.
As it was mostly an adult affair, my parents asked me to babysit for a few hours. My two main tasks during that time was to see we all had some lunch, then get my sister down for an afternoon nap.
All went smoothly at firs but when it was time for my sister’s nap, a battle of wills broke out between us. It became clear that my sister had no intention of getting into bed for her nap. Four times she came back out of her room, and each time I put her back to bed. As I carried her back to her room for the fourth time, she bit me on the arm, quite painfully.
Naturally, I was very angry at this and when I got her back to her bed, this time I sat down on it, turned my little sister over my knee and smacked her bottom five times, all the while yelling: “Don’t you bite me!” She cried quite a lot at this spanking but this time she did stay in her bed, and I thought I had won.
A short time later, my parents returned home. The first thing mom noticed was the crying still coming from my little sister’s bedroom. Naturally she asked what the matter was and I told her how I had been bitten, and I had given her a spanking.
My parents were not pleased at all with this. Dad turned to me and said: “Morten, it is not your job to discipline the other children. You are old enough to know by now that if your brother and sister are naughty, you can tell us when we get home and we’ll see to the punishments.
“What your sister did was vert wrong, and Mom is going to go in to see her no and give her a proper spanking for biting. You and I are going to stand here outside and listen.
“When your sister has been seen to, you and I are going to your own bedroom, and you will be going over my knee for over-reaching your responsibilities.”
At that, Mom disappeared into my sister’s bedroom. She left the door slightly ajar so we could hear what was happening. She lectured my still-crying sister about biting, which she said was a ‘horrible habit’. Then there was a paused, presumably as Mom put my sister across her knee, and then we heard four sharp smacks. My sister’s crying redoubled at this new chastisement.
I heard Mom comforting her for a little bit, then: “Morten, come in here!” I went into the room, with Dad following, and saw my mom cuddling my sister and rubbing her bottom. “Now then, young man, you are going to apologise to your little sister for hitting her.”
It did strike me as somewhat ironic that I was being made to say sorry for the very same thing Mom had just done to her, but I did so grudgingly. Then I felt Dad take me by the arm. “Come along, my boy, we have business to attend to.”
Dad took me down the basement stairs to my own room. “First of all, Morten, I am going to spank you for hitting your sister without permission. Then, to make sure you really learn your lesson, I am going to give you the same spanking you gave her.”
He sat down on my bed and ordered me to bend over his knee. Then I was given 12 hard smacks, and even though they were through the seat of my pants they hurt a lot and left me crying freely. When the spanking was finished, Dad held me in position and waited for my crying to soften down.
Then he said: “Right – how many times did you smack your little sister?” “F-f-five,” I got out between sobs. “Was it on her pants, her panties or her bare bottom, Morten?” “J-just her pants, Dad, honestly!”
Without further ado, Dad raised his hand again and I was given five more smacks, which of course set me off crying again.
After it was all over, Dad helped me to my feet and hugged me. “You were a silly boy to do that without permission,” he said, “but it’s all over now. You know your mom and I love you very much, right?” I nodded through the tears. “Right – you stay there for a while and think about what you did. When you’ve stopped crying, you may come out of your room.”
I never dared spank my siblings again, no matter how hard they tried my patience as a babysitter. But I did report further incidents to my parents and both my brother and sister suffered further sore bottoms as a result.
Contributor: Morten