This is a story about me getting a tanned arse for misbehaving in Tesco, a well-known supermarket in the UK, by my mum in the early 1990s.
I was about seven or eight at the time – I can’t remember exactly what age, but basically, my mum was a firm believer in corporal punishment for both me and my three sisters while we were growing up.
On this particular occasion, I had been naughty and in a foul mood all day. Then my mother decided we needed to do a food shop at the supermarket. I hated food shopping and Mum knew this.
Anyway, once we got in the shop, I was still being a complete brat. I knocked stuff off the shelves and was being rude to both my siblings and to other adults in the shop.
Having already given me several warnings about my behaviour throughout the day, Mum had finally had enough. She dragged me by the hair and took me down one of the quieter aisles.
Once we were there, she lifted my dress and firmly smacked my bum six times though my leggings and knickers. Even though it was through clothing, it stung as Mum had a good hard hand. Naturally this made me cry, but then Mum said something which made me feel even worse. “You are going to get a good hiding on your bare arse when I get you home,” she hissed.
With that warning, my tears re-doubled. A few other customers looked at me. I’m pretty sure some of them saw me having my bum smacked but they said nothing to my mother. There was a lot more acceptance of spanking of children in those days, and most of them probably thought I had deserved my smacking, and the retribution at home which was to follow.
Perhaps in the vain hope that Mum would relent about the smacking back at home, my behaviour in the supermarket did then improve. I had to endure my older sister Lucy teasing and taunting me. “Mum is going to take your knickers down and smack your bum, brat!” she kept whispering in my ear.
When we got home, we all helped Mum put the shopping away, then she said: “Abby, go to your room and wait for me. I promised you a leathering, and that’s what you’re getting.”
I sat on my bed, crying quietly, then a few minutes later Mum came up with the slipper that was kept for our bottoms. As promised, she took down my leggings and knickers, and put me bare bottom over her knee. Then she applied the slipper to the place nature made for receiving spankings. It was one of the worst hidings I ever got, and I cried all night as I nursed a very red and sore bottom.
Looking back on my childhood, though, we had a good mother and I deserved every tanning I got.
Contributor: Abby