Remembering the belt

Most of the stories you feature on your website are about correspondents being smacked on their bottoms for misbehaviour. And although as a mother I was never a big spanker, I do consider the bum to be the most appropriate place for a child to receive corporal punishment – the place nature intended, I guess you would say.

However, when I was growing up, the punishment I dreaded the most was not that inflicted on my bottom but on my hands – the infamous Scottish schools belt, sometimes called the tawse. Even today, many decades on from my school years, I can recall the agonising sting these implements were capable of inflicting on a youngster’s palms.

All Maman stories are copyright, unauthorised reproduction may lead to legal action.