Probably somewhat unusually by the 90s, Mary and I were sometimes smacked by several family members in addition to Mum and Dad. Our stepmum and stepdad, granny and Mum’s sister … Read more

In spite of him usually being far more patient and good-natured than Mum, there was one area where our father’s tolerance was surprisingly lower – bath time.  Being a hard … Read more

From around the age of seven to around 12 years old, I had the same girl babysit me when my parents needed to go out and leave me. Looking back … Read more

HOLDING BREATH. A baby, or even a child several years of age, may, through temper, hold the breath. I strongly advise spanking for this practice. I certainly disapprove of the … Read more

In this interview from some years ago, we chatted to Australian mum Cindy about her use of the cane on the bottoms of her two older boys.

TELLING OF UNTRUTHS. Making the child truthful is one of  the hardest tasks of child training. Perhaps in no period of the Christian era has untruthfulness been so common and … Read more

Martin, the father of two young boys, talks about his use of the slipper and how, as head of the household, he takes responsibility for disciplining his children.

DISRESPECT. Disrespect not unfrequently results in sauciness, contradictions, flippant remarks, answers with no consideration of the one answered, and, finally, no consideration of age or sex. Where there is disrespect … Read more

In Canada, children were accustomed to receive the school strap across their hands for misbehaviour. But as this anonymous contributor points out, at home, some kids felt the benefit of … Read more

OBEDIENCE! Why is it that mother or governess finds it necessary repeatedly to remind a child of his misconduct ? Why so many interruptions of social conversation or of business … Read more

The time when mild hand spankings over mummy’s knee come to an end and are replaced by something altogether more formal and painful is a landmark in a child’s experience … Read more

DISOBEDIENCE. Of course many different acts of misbehaviour come from disobedience. The reader will notice that I place disobedience before disrespect, because often disrespect is an outgrowth of tolerated disobedience. … Read more

Editor’s note: Chapter XIV is by far the longest chapter of Mariam Fredrick’s book on child discipline, I have divided this chapter into several different posts to make it easier … Read more

I was raised in Lancashire, England, during the 1970s and at that time, my mum would often look after the little girl next door as well as me. Lucy’s father … Read more

The usual mother-in-law jokes aside, I have a great relationship with Matthew, who is married to my eldest daughter Jennifer. But for a few years, there was a bone of … Read more

I was brought up in a very middle-class family in Surrey, England in the 1960s and my parents were, to put it mildly, very conservative and maybe slightly behind the … Read more

From the emails we receive, we know that many men are aroused when they overhear mothers discussing matters of family discipline with others of the fair sex. Ian is one … Read more

Impressionable and imaginative children often get up to the same mischief they read about in comics or see on television. But such copycat behaviour earned both Matthew and his sister … Read more

In an era of school corporal punishment when most schoolgirls got the cane on the hand, Vanessa was one of the minority who had to bend over to receive it, … Read more

I was brought up in Singapore and as you may know, even today the cane is a popular deterrent with parents there in shaping their children’s behaviour. I was an … Read more

I was over visiting my friend Carol when this happened. Carol and I are old school pals and she has two kids – at the time of this story, her … Read more

I think nearly all your stories on Maman have either mum or dad dispensing discipline to their naughty child, but in my own upbringing, my parents frequently ‘collaborated’ in the … Read more

An audio version of the first of Lina’s two-part recollections of spanking both as the child receiving it, and the mother giving it.

For those of us interested in spanking, seeing someone else receiving it was extremely memorable – but so was walking in on the immediate aftermath of the punishment, as Charles … Read more