Correction That Corrects: Chapter XVI
THE OLDER CHILD “Uproot not the neglected flower; rather, care for it more diligently.”
At my mother’s breast (audio)
A child who has just been spanked by mother will nevertheless instinctively seek comfort in her arms once the chastisement is over. This anonymous contributor’s mother took this comfort to … Read more
At my mother’s breast
I was brought up in the late 70s/early 80s, and in many ways my family life was something of a contradiction. Dad was basically an unreconstructed hippy, with a laid-back … Read more
Spying in the bushes
One day, when I was 11 years old, I was playing at my friend Amanda’s house. when we heard agitated yelling from her next-door neighbour’s home. It sounded like the neighbour … Read more
Correction That Corrects: Chapter XV
DIFFICULTIES AND OBJECTIONS “Difficulties give way to diligence. Objections are often traceable to ignorance of facts.”
Taken to be smacked
When I was a child, my mum was good friends with a lady called Mrs Leese – I think they had worked together before they both left to concentrate on … Read more
Bottom bared by sister
When we were children (during the 1960s and 70s), my parents had us understand that a bare bottom spanking was their last resort in terms of punishments. In practice, though, … Read more
Leathered for smoking
My daughter Rachel was something of a brat growing up – she always seemed to have an attitude, never did as she was told, misbehaved all the time – and … Read more
A visit from Aunt Nicky (audio)
David recalls how his mother’s younger sister came to stay to look after the family during an illness – and how it resulted in two very well-smacked bottoms!
‘Danny got a spanking’
When I was around 12 or 13, we went on a family picnic at a local fish hatchery. My brother and his friends were walking on a narrow cement wall … Read more
Correction That Corrects: Chapter XIV, part VII
PERSISTENCY IN SPITE OF AUTHORATATIVE DECISION. Perseverance and determination are very desirable qualities in the child as well as in the adult, but persistency in having one’s own way regardless … Read more
Smacked by Uncle Dennis
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
Sore bottoms at bathtime
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
In the hands of the babysitter
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
Correction That Corrects: Chapter XIV, part VI
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
Mothers Talking: Cindy (audio)
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.
It’s the belt for Barb
One of the most memorable spankings I ever witnessed happened to my older cousin Barb. She was the oldest cousin in our family and she was mean and bossy to all … Read more
Correction That Corrects: Chapter XIV, part V
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
Whackings from our dad
I’ve just finished reading your wonderful story The naughty girls’ medicine, and I was struck how similar your correspondent’s experience of childhood discipline was to my own. My older sister … Read more
Fathers Talking: Martin (audio)
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.
Tanned arse for bullying
When I was about nine years old, I got caught bullying my neighbour’s daughter. Unfortunately for me, the girl’s mother was good friends with my mum, so after she caught … Read more
Correction That Corrects: Chapter XIV, part IV
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
The crying pillow (audio)
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
Correction That Corrects: Chapter XIV, part III
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 cane from my father (audio)
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
Correction That Corrects: Chapter XIV, part II
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
Correction That Corrects: Chapter XIV, part I
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
Late with the rent
While I was at university in Heidelberg, Germany, I rented a room at a large house which was owned by a widow with two sons, who were aged eight and … Read more
The witness is witnessed
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
Teaching Daddy to spank
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
Painting the woodshed
As I have mentioned in other stories, my own family and that of my friend Hannah were close friends. Hannah and I were almost like twins and because of that, … Read more
The cane from my father
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
The naughty girls’ medicine
I grew up in a working class family during the 1980s. Although corporal punishment was being increasingly discouraged by the parenting magazines etc, the reality was that a lot of … Read more
Smack bottom and bed (audio)
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
The copycats (audio)
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
Not on the hand (audio)
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