over the knee spanking in school

[shoreline]

Carol

 

Of course, absolutely, it would have been much less damaging if others had received the exact same punishment. And I mean the EXACT same punishment. And even the girls for that matter.

 

I dont think it was the bare bottom spanking that had such an effect as it was the overwhelming shame. The shame of having it done in public. The shame of laying naked accross a woman/teacher/strangers bare unclothed lap where my penis was in full view and was making full contact with her bare thighs. This is the disgusting picture I have to describe in order to fully express my point of view. I write this to help explain how messed up a child, a boy, can be having this done to them.

 

If the spankings had been done in private than yes I could except that. And if the spankings had been done to other children than yes that would help make the whole thing more......normalized. Like you wrote, just a normal staple of school life then. And when I say spanking I mean spanking, not brutal whipping with a strap on the bare buttocks until I passed out in the teachers lounge. Anyone with a soul can tell you that's wrong. What was wrong with this woman?

 

What I felt was bullied, singled out stripped, beaten and humiliated. I mean this wasn't some S and M thing...I was a child in public school, Jesus!!

If bare bottom spanking was common in school then it wouldn't have been as big deal, I dont think. This woman was twisted and a pervert. I was singled out and she hated me. I am hoping to hear from others who had experienced similar things. I want to know I'm not alone because that is what I have always felt like, alone and different.

 

Carol, did I read your comment correctly? Were bare bottom spanking happening in your school?? But in private. What age were you? How long ago did this take place? Did you witness such a thing? How did you know it happened if you hadn't witnessed it? Help me understand.

Hermes...I have read much on the subject and from what what Ive read, spanking was being outlawed in the 70's Canada and there were already different studies out that proved the damaging effects of these punishments on children and that they should be avoided. I believe this woman should have known about all this and yet beat me anyway. And not just a little spanking but the whole show she put on was well above and beyond.

 

The worst part perhaps was after I was beaten into submission, I was stood up nude in front of everyone. I had no way to cover my self and standing there crying with my bare buttocks and penis in full view as she dressed me. I was nude from my ankles to my armpits. And the children all sitting quietly in there seats watching and snickering. Yup, it can really mess a child up.

[Hermes]

SL:

 

Have you ever thought about taking a case against these people (the school)?

 

I think you have grounds.

 

Hermes

[shoreline]

Yes Hermes I have. But first I wanted to search for others where I live in order to see if anyone else was treated this way. No luck.

This made me put out a bigger net thus looking for anyone in Canada who was treated this way. Lack of response has caused me to now go and ask everyone from everywhere if they witness this. Was it common?

I have came accross a few responses but not enough to convince me it was common. Most people are shocked. And understandably so, as it is an unnecessary and excessive punishment.

 

Not to say that the spanking wasn't very damaging......but if she had had the common decency as a human being to at least do it in private. At least THAT would have reduced the shame.

 

As far as going after those responsible , I have no idea where to start and considering it was legal back then in school. And here is the thing....(corporal punishment) was legal in public schools in Canada back then. I believe what I received was abuse, NOT corporal punishment in the context of the day.

Like I wrote earlier, looking back now, Id have gladly traded the strap to my hands.

[carol4thelord]

Of course, absolutely, it would have been much less damaging if others had received the exact same punishment. And I mean the EXACT same punishment. And even the girls for that matter.

 

I have never understood why girls should be treated any different from boys on matters of discipline. If a boy and a girl both do the same thing and both get in trouble, why shouldn't they both receive the same punishment? Doesn't matter if it's a spanking or something else, it should still be the same for both of them.

 

/soapbox

 

Carol, did I read your comment correctly? Were bare bottom spanking happening in your school?? But in private. What age were you? How long ago did this take place? Did you witness such a thing? How did you know it happened if you hadn't witnessed it? Help me understand.

 

I don't want to be too specific about who and where, because I don't want to spark off a witch hunt. This happened in the late 60s and early 70s, in a small backwater town far from civilisation. It was a Catholic girls school, we all wore uniforms and said please and thank you, compared to many schools today it may as well have been on another planet.

 

Around the age of 6 or 7, it was normal to have to "fetch the slipper" for minor infractions. That meant taking the slipper from its hook on the wall, handing it to the teacher, then bending over their knee in front of the class. Sounds horrific? We got 3-4 smacks, it did hurt but it was more about the ritual than the pain. Effectively it was like wearing a "naughty girl" badge for everyone else to see. We all got it, the very idea of anyone being so well behaved that they never got the slipper was absurd.

 

As we got a bit older, instead of fetching the slipper we had our names written on the blackboard when we misbehaved. At the end of the class we had to stay behind, we still went over the teacher's knee for the slipper but we got more smacks and it genuinely hurt. Anyone who got slippered too often would have her skirt flipped up first.

 

If someone had been VERY naughty they had to stay back and be the last in the line. When all the others had gone and the door was closed, the girl was taken over the knee and spanked on her bare bottom. We didn't question whether they were allowed to do that, we just did as we were told! That's how we all got spanked at home, we just assumed the teachers were allowed to do it as well. It happened to me several times, I cried - it was a proper spanking! - but we never thought of it as abuse. It was discipline and although it was strict, the same rules applied to everyone.

 

As we got older (10-11) they stopped using the slipper on us. Instead we got detention. Doesn't sound so bad does it? Most of the time it was just a wasted boring hour, sitting up straight with hands on the desk, not moving and not speaking. But anyone in BIG trouble (smoking, skipping classes) would be summoned out of detention and taken to the head's office. We were either put over the knee, over the desk, or over the back of a chair and the strap was applied to the bare bottom. We were spanked just as hard as getting it at home. Again I don't know if they were allowed to actually do that or not, and I never challenged them (would you have?)

 

Everybody knew when someone had gotten the strap, and for the most part we were very supportive (there were always snotty girls and cliques but they were the exception). Getting smacked was just a normal part of school life, it happened to everyone and we accepted it.

 

I'm sure if I had been spanked on my bare bottom in front of a room full of boys, then displayed to them undressed, it would have been an entirely different matter and I fully understand why it affected you so deeply. I pray that you will find the courage to overcome your trauma, and not let the memory continue to haunt you so many years after the event.

 

Carol

[shoreline]

I think about the times she was spanking me in the classroom on just my pants, before it escalated. These were bottom warming sessions for sure, it was no joke, I got spanked! Maybe 20-30 whacks of her hand... She really pounded on me.

There came a point where it didnt hurt anymore. I mean it hurt but I was able to hold on tight and endure until she had finished. It was a hot uncomfortable sit back in my seat but more times than not I was put in the corner on display afterward and I felt it equivalent to a dunce hat. It was to show how stupid I was and bad. I was a bad person.

 

I hated being beaten in front of everyone. I hated laying on her lap,staring at the floor as everyone watched and smirked. That was the point of the punishment and I was supposed to hate it. One part of me though understands the punishment. It is in this that I feel spanking isn't a bad thing and a few kids today could benefit from a good sound bare bottom spanking. Not a beating! As you wrote, but a proper spanking.

 

I had no choice but to accept what was happening and didnt question it. I think in the back of my mind that perhaps this was normal in other classrooms and I was just getting mine. But one day it occurred to me that no one else was getting it. No one else was getting anything. Just me. And at that point I felt singled out and different. Then she took my pants down.

 

If it had been done with the door closed and in private I really believe it wouldn't have bothered me so much, and I really believe this, but it was the public ritual, filled with rage and the shaming. Me, always me. I guess I wasn't her favorite student.

The spanking I received in front of the class with my pants down was brutal. It was my first real bare bottom spanking and that made it hard to deal with but to have it done publicly, there was no need of that.

 

Carol, the spankings you describe sound like something out of the 50's, I had no idea that was going on in the 70's. But than I guess private schools were different, and yours was a private school wasn't it.

I agree with anonymity. No one needs to know exactly where my or your school is.

I was forcibly stripped. I believe that adds to the humiliation. In my case it was a boy stripped my a woman. As in your case I couldn't imagine the 'HEAD'.. perhaps a man at that, stripping off my uniform for a strapping if I were a girl. And maybe worse, being made to undress for the spanking. I dont know which would be worse. And at the age of 10-11...I guess they didnt care about your modesty. Like you wrote...it was just a normal part of growing up and you knew no different.

When kids got the strap in my school it required a witness, I believe. In my case I'm pretty sure there was a witness to my bare bottom strapping so even that wasn't in private. I found great shame in that. And the anger at which she beat me.

 

For lack of a better expression, I wasn't spanked with love.

[carol4thelord]

but more times than not I was put in the corner on display afterward and I felt it equivalent to a dunce hat. It was to show how stupid I was and bad. I was a bad person.

 

When we had to fetch the slipper, it was the equivalent of wearing a dunce hat. It was saying "Look at me, I can't obey the rules or do as I am told." But we weren't made to feel stupid or bad, just naughty. It was a normal part of growing up and it happened to everyone sooner or later.

 

One part of me though understands the punishment. It is in this that I feel spanking isn't a bad thing and a few kids today could benefit from a good sound bare bottom spanking. Not a beating! As you wrote, but a proper spanking.

 

This will upset some people but I believe a spanking, done properly and without anger, can be a good thing. A number of kids today would definitely benefit from a sound spanking with their pants pulled down. Unfortunately it's not likely to happen.

 

I think in the back of my mind that perhaps this was normal in other classrooms and I was just getting mine.

 

That's how it was for us. The same rules applied to everybody. That is still a deep part of British culture, that justice must be done. That's why so many people today are disillusioned with our justice system, because career criminals walk free while others are jailed for petty offences.

 

When I was a girl and I did something wrong but wasn't caught, I would feel guilty about it. I'd tell myself it wasn't a big deal but it worried me and eventually I'd confess to it. It was better to admit it, possibly being punished as a result, than to keep quiet and feel guilty. And we were respected for having the courage to own up. Today that would attract more ridicule than respect.

 

Carol, the spankings you describe sound like something out of the 50's, I had no idea that was going on in the 70's.

 

In the big cities it was probably left behind, but in little towns from the last century it was definitely still happening. It was just done behind closed doors and not talked about.

 

As in your case I couldn't imagine the 'HEAD'.. perhaps a man at that

 

Sorry I should have explained that. The "head" wasn't actually a headmaster, it was a generic term for the sister in charge. When we were sent to the head's office for punishment we were greeted by a nun in full regalia, with a face like judgement day, and carrying a strap. It was terrifying - which was the whole idea, of course. I was assured in later years that she was actually a nice lady who just put on a stern face when handing out punishment.

 

And maybe worse, being made to undress for the spanking.

 

We didn't get sent to the head's office for minor offences. Anyone sent to the head had done something very wrong and was in BIG trouble for it.

 

And at the age of 10-11...I guess they didnt care about your modesty. Like you wrote...it was just a normal part of growing up and you knew no different.

 

The door was closed, that was all the modesty we were allowed at that point. But that's just how it was.

 

When kids got the strap in my school it required a witness, I believe.

 

That would make it twice as bad for me! When I was going to get a spanking, the last thing I wanted was somebody else watching.

 

For lack of a better expression, I wasn't spanked with love.

 

I think that's very sad. We were punished when we misbehaved, and we deserved it, but I never resented it.

 

Carol

[shoreline]

Carol

 

I completely understand what you saying with regards to being out in the middle of nowhere. The school I went to was along the coast and far far away from the city. It was like being on another planet. Very isolated very private, or so it seemed. Now in reality it isn't really that far away from the city but as a little kid it might as well have been on Mars.

It was your typical fishing based communities and everyone knew everyone. If you got in trouble it didnt take long for everyone to know. Small town mentality. The thing is, it wasn't even a small town. It was smaller than that. It was just a small school on a country road that connected these little fishing villages.

I believe, that my parents believed that what was done in school was what was done in school. The woman called my house and my parents knew what she was doing. I think once she got the "taste of power" she let it go to her head. I would say she was abused as a child. Or in a poor abusive marriage.

I would like to find her and do research on her and find out more. Perhaps have compassion for her and forgiveness. That might set me free. Or drive me nuts.

 

At home it wasn't your typical bare bottom spankings. Dad was the kind of guy who used ropes to whip us on clothes. On occasion after many warnings I would get the fly swatter. This was the wire handle. usually I only had on underwear at bed time so my punishment was not on bare bottom but bare everything else while I squirmed and on underwear covered bottom. My father was whipped bare bottom by his father and he didnt wish that on us.

I believe his punishments were fair. Though my brother and I hated them. If not at bed time than it was just on clothes. Earlier spankings are foggy in memory, but just on pants I think.

 

At school and away from home it seemed the rules all changed. If you were bad you would get sent to the office for the strap on the hands. So Ive heard. Male or female principals so I'm told. I only recall one(male) principal. Spanking somehow did not exist in my mind at school.

Even though I witnessed one(bare bottom) a few years back in the one room school house, by then maybe I blocked out the horror of it all. Very traumatic and terrifying for a 5-6 year old.

 

Perhaps those who had been spanked bare bottom at home were used to it, thus when it came time for one at school the child knew what to expect, how they were likely to react and how much they could endure before balling their head off. The kid would know just how much it hurt.

 

In my case it happened all very public and I had no idea what was in store. I know there were kids being spanked that way at home so it wasn't new to them. But for me, getting it THAT WAY for the first time and having it all so public.

 

It was her intention to make me cry and she wasn't going to stop slapping me until I did. Even after I had grown exhausted and stopped squirming in resistance she continued. I held on from crying for as long as I could and then broke down as the entire next generation of my community, my peers, watched. I couldn't count how many times her hand landed. It could have been 40 times.

 

For a boy to cry back in the day when boys didnt cry. I didnt know how embarrassing a spanking like that was and being made to cry accross her lap , awful. I didnt know how bad it was going to hurt. This back in the day when children were made to sit straight in their desks, face front, hands folded out front and perfectly silent. That was the audience I was punished in front of.

They heard every sound and watched my every reaction saw everything in clear view. And think about it. The only time we were undressed was at home for a bath.

Do it, but at least in private. And in my case, some previous experience would have helped.

[Hermes]

I am afraid I don't agree, Carol. Violence is no way of solving anything. Hitting a child merely engenders violence.

 

Parents should be able to discipline without hitting. I was never hit by my parents, and believe me I was a lively child (LOL). I grew up to be a good person.

I am so glad that hitting children is outlawed in many places, hopefully one day everywhere.

 

Hermes

[Hermes]

This is an excellent post:

[Hermes]

May have put this up before, but here goes again

 

link removed

 

Hermes

[Hermes]

And this:

 

link removed

 

 

Beaten children very early on assimilate the violence they endured, which they may glorify and apply later as parents, in believing that they deserved the punishment and were beaten out of love. They don't know that the only reason for the punishments they have ( or in retrospect, had) to endure is the fact that their parents themselves endured and learned violence without being able to question it. Later, the adults, once abused children, beat their own children and often feel grateful to their parents who mistreated them when they were small and defenseless.

 

 

Excellent website.

 

H

[carol4thelord]

I am afraid I don't agree, Carol.

 

That's fine, I respect the fact that you have made a choice. The pro-spanking and anti-spanking lobbies have been arguing with each other for decades, neither side has yet managed to convince the other and I don't see that changing for a very long time. I won't try to change your mind, and you obviously won't change mine on this subject.

 

Where we can hopefully both agree is that children do need discipline. What form that discipline takes is another matter but can we at least say that all children need to have rules that are enforced by an authority figure?

 

Carol

[Hermes]

Yes, Carol. Of course, children need discipline. There was discipline in my family, and in other friends' families, but no violence was needed. Parents should be able to exert discipline, and they can (because I have the example of my own parents) without hitting a child. There certainly were rules in our house, and in my friends houses.

 

Hitting someone is assault, look at it any way you like And hitting someone who is smaller (i.e. a child) and unable to strike back, is utterly unaceptable.

 

Good example and good parenting are essential.

 

If children become so dysfunctional that their behaviour goes beyond normal liveliness, then you can be certain there is dysfunction in the home.

 

Hermes

[shoreline]

Hi folks

 

This is such a touchy subject. You can be assured that I understand both sides of this issue. Coming from someone who felt that their..."spankings"...were wrong you might find it surprising that I could even agree with spanking. trust me....I have studied this to death.

 

What I'm saying is.. If I had done the things growing up that I see kids today doing, I would have been killed. That is why I didnt do them. I would have really got it at home. Just knowing that I could be spanked was all that I needed to keep me in line. Weird huh. And I was a sensible honest helpful kid anyway. Never back talk a grown up. They were different times for sure. I didnt need spanking to keep me straight, just knowing I could be spanked worked. Just the facts.

 

When I was a kid I witnessed my spoiled neighbor torture his dog until cross while laughing. He wasn't spanked. He is the biggest local thief and liar I know. Has no respect for anyone, steal the eyes right out of your head. I cant help but think that if he were in my house and did that what he would get. But then again,..if he were in my house he wouldn't have done it in the first place....

 

Perhaps some kids need to know that there is a higher authority to answer to. I know of some kids that you just look at and they behave, and some kids dont respond to that. I know of one guy who grew up wanting to be a gangster. Its all he talked about. He wanted for nothing as a kid. Now he spends most of his time in jail....he thinks it makes him cool. Constant gangster music and videos. Drugs, guns...kicked out of the army. He refuses to change and his family has finally given up on him. He does as he pleases. Its sad.

When he was a child he was allowed to go free and wild and it just snowballed. Now he has no aim.His heroes are criminals.

 

When I was a kid...all I wanted was to get a job and buy a bike.

[Hermes]

We shall have to agree to disagree LOL. But it is not just me saying it. There is good evidence to back up the fact that violence does not solve anything.

 

Children were not born "bad", or later "possessed by something "bad"). If there are children like the ones you describe in your post, believe me it is the home environment (nurture) which is producing them.

Equally the criminal type may well have a psychopathic personality. There is evidence that this is born with the person (and hence not their fault no more than having blue or brown eyes is). Parents may not know what is wrong, and fortunately nowadays there is more education and information out there on what are called "problem children".

 

I did not behave well because I was afraid. I behaved because I got good example at home. And, of course like all kids I got into scrapes, and got serious telling offs, grounded, little treats taken away.

 

The parents of many kids growing up today should not IMO have been parents in the first instance. Harsh but true.

Good enough parenting is hard work, and I feel many don't just want to put in the effort.

 

Hermes

[shoreline]

Being anti-spanking that I am because of the abuse I received in school its difficult for me to admit that I would have readily accepted a spanking when I was a child. But I would have.

 

Growing up in the early 70's, adults had such authority. Adults with a higher standing in the community had even more. When your from a family at the bottom of the food chain you pretty much do as your told and all sorts of adults had power over you.

If we were in serious trouble than the police could be called. It wasn't an idle threat. We were told what happens to boys in "reform school." Of course now we know all the horrible things that happened to boys in those places...often corporal punishment was the least of their worries. We were told that we would be spanked every day and only got bread and water. Not the place to go so..BEHAVE!!

Thanks to my teacher I knew what a spanking was all about. Back in those days a child could actually be given a choice between calling the cops or...keeping it quite and dealing with it "between us." ...as they see fit! Accept the alternative.

 

Back in those days if I was in trouble and given the choice I would take a spanking over jail. I would trade a ruined life for a spanking. I know some kids who did and the police were never called. Sometimes the parents agreed to the arrangement and actually condoned it. Sometimes the parents never found out. A store owner with a broken window gave a choice and pants came down and a belt was used by the child's choice and the parents never found out. These kids grew up to be quite successful, and not career criminals.

 

Just random thoughts.

[Hermes]

I suppose all I can say is that I am horrified. And, believe me, I do not "horrify" too easily.

 

Terrible that children were criminalised. And we are talking the 70s!!! Not medieval times.

 

There is much that could be deplored about soiety nowadays, but thank goodness, at least in this part of the world, compassion and undrstanding have taken the place of ignorance.

 

Hermes

[Hermes]

I've just been reading this!

 

link removed

[shoreline]

Remember that the EARLY 70's was no different than 1970. And 1970 just came after the 60's. I can understand what Carol wrote about it being so far from civilization. Back water attitudes. The 60's to mid 70's had less tolerance. Old ways of thinking, old folks resistant to change. We didnt live in the real world. People liked and lived the old ways. These people grew up in the 30' and 40's and 50's. Old ways, old values and no city slicker is going to change that.

 

A child is to be seen and not heard. Yes mam, no sir. Please and thank you. I grew up in an atmosphere of fear where children had no say or worthy opinion. It was a different time. Old communities far from any town. You never saw a police car. No such thing as child protective services. Regular adults were the law and we knew it.

 

Knowing this it is no stretch of the imagination we could be abused in school.

 

In regard to your link above.....Ive read these pages and I never see any mention of spanking "pants down" as a legal, regular accepted part of classroom life. perhaps I missed it. If it was common than every child in school would have been getting it that way. Not just me!

It kinda makes that teacher stick out doesn't it?

[Hermes]

Yes, Shoreline, as you tell us more I am beginning to get a "visual" of the ambience in which you grew up. I suppose, having had a happy and fortunate childhood, I find it hard to imagine that other children did not have that. I know it intellectually, but it just seems so outlandish.

And as you say, you lived in an out of the way place. And yet, the 1970s are so relatively recent. Heavens!!

 

 

We didnt live in the real world

 

I grew up in an atmosphere of fear where children had no say or worthy opinion.

 

My parents could be strict, but we children had "voice" nonetheless.

 

Different place, different time I suppose. I consider myself so lucky to have the parents I had. Totally different to what you describe. Then again we lived close to towns/cities. My Dad had travelled around the world before he married, and had a very broad minded outlook on everything. My mother had worked before her marriage (she wa 34 and my Dad 40 when they married). Her father, my grandfather, unusual enough for those times, insisted his daughters all be educated. He was a strict man too, but I never heard my mother or my aunts say he hit them.

 

 

I was quite a tom-boy, and do remember one day breaking the neighbours" window. I got a severe telling off (I had not of course done it on purpose), and anyhow the neighbours adored me. I also got a severe fright when it happened. I was handed a book and told go sit in the living room until further notice LOL, no communication..

I truly sympathise with you, Shoreline.

 

I think what that teacher did to you was away out of line and into the realms of very sleazy abuse.

 

Hermes

[carol4thelord]

I suppose, having had a happy and fortunate childhood, I find it hard to imagine that other children did not have that.

Please don't get the idea that we were unhappy! We smiled and laughed and played just like any other children. We didn't have mobile phones but as long as we were home by the appointed time, we went out and climbed trees and rode our bikes and did all those things kids need to do. And Shoreline is right, there were no police cars and CPS to be seen - we didn't need them. The world was a different place and I'm glad I was able to catch the last of it before it was destroyed by the chaos we have today.

 

Her father, my grandfather, unusual enough for those times, insisted his daughters all be educated.

 

That is something that has definitely changed. We were taught to conform to a stereotype, and a very rigid one at that. Girls were polite and gentle, courteous, refined, thoughtful and self-sacrificing. That was the role model presented to us, and we had no choice but to match it. Some people find that reassuring and comforting, others find it stifling and restrictive (I was the latter and rebelled against it).

 

Is today's freedom an improvement? Many will say yes. Some will say they miss the old ways. And unfortunately some will look at you curiously and say "You mean it wasn't always like this?"

 

I was quite a tom-boy, and do remember one day breaking the neighbours" window. I got a severe telling off (I had not of course done it on purpose), and anyhow the neighbours adored me. I also got a severe fright when it happened. I was handed a book and told go sit in the living room until further notice LOL, no communication..

 

I broke somebody's window once, I didn't mean to but I did anyway. I apologised, then I was taken home and spanked. That afternoon I went back and helped the people mend their window. They knew I didn't mean to break it but I shouldn't have been where I was, messing around, so it clearly was my fault and that's why I had to be punished. They weren't mad at me and they let me help fix it. I got to know them better because of that.

 

I think what that teacher did to you was away out of line and into the realms of very sleazy abuse.

 

I totally agree. What that teacher did was way beyond the realm of acceptable punishment.

 

Carol

[shoreline]

It wasn't that we weren't happy. I was able to conform to my fathers "old ways." My father liked to slap me around and keep me scared and respectful. He liked kicking the seat of my pants as punishment. Really weird to just stand there waiting for his boot to land again and again. I was maybe 6 when he shot and killed my dog in front of me because it dug holes in the lawn. But I'm not here to get into that...I'm here to figure out if others had pants down spankings in school...in class. Was it common? Particularly in Canada.

 

The problem I had was trying to bury that 3 headed monster that my teacher had created. I was an overall happy kid when I had to suppress and bottle up the shame, and learn that yes indeed life does go on.. My so called friends on occasion would just up and tell total strangers what I was getting at school etc...in great detail...so it obviously had an effect on them.

Today they say....oh well, that's just the way it was back then...?? for whom?? Thats easy for you to say, it didnt happen to you!! Then I say .."well what if so and so took your daughters cloths off in the classroom and spanked her in front of everyone?"

You want to see someone turn white as a ghost. Its all different when the shoe is on the other foot. In retrospect perhaps they shouldn't have rubbed my nose in it when I was a kid in front of total strangers. And these people were my friends.

 

All that aside we rode bikes and played ball and had lots of fun. Laughing and fooling around, it was all good. Saturday cartoons on b/w tv with an antenna on the roof. Snowy but good. Dad worked us too and we learned to work,..we were kids and survived. We weren't unhappy. We had food on the table and a roof over our head.

 

It has just occurred to me that I'm trying to convince some of you that we all didnt have fairytale lives. Maybe I'm trying too hard. I think that some of you dont have a foggy idea what it was like when we were kids and cant even imagine it.

I know this from trying to explain to my nephew what I endured in the school that he is now enrolled in. He doesn't get it. He rolls hid eyes and shrugs his shoulders and tells me.....I know...I know.....you all ready told me about that. He cant even comprehend that this stuff actually went on. And I spend so much energy trying to explain to people that the world that they grew up in is not the world I grew up in. Things have changed and in my opinion, not for the better. Again, I agree with Carol.

 

In response to Hermes...yes we climbed trees and stuff too....but when we broke a window in an old decrepit building next door with a bb gun.....well lets just say that my rear end still hurts. We grew up in a very rigid environment. And no...we didnt eat our young.. lol.

 

And one more thing......being who I am and where I came from,....I couldn't imagine a childhood like yours Hermes. Its incomprehensible. You mean some kids grew up really happy...??

[carol4thelord]

My father liked to slap me around and keep me scared and respectful.

My father wasn't like that at all. The only smacking I ever got from him was a carefully considered spanking, he never lashed out in anger or frustration.

 

He liked kicking the seat of my pants as punishment. Really weird to just stand there waiting for his boot to land again and again.

Now that I would be opposed to.

 

I was maybe 6 when he shot and killed my dog in front of me because it dug holes in the lawn.

That is a thousand times worse than any spanking. I'm not sure I could ever have loved my father again if he had done that.

[Hermes]

Yes, Shoreline. I grew up really happy. Not, it was not a fairytale. Just because a childhood is good, and steady, does not mean it is a "fairytale". Sure, there were lots of things we did not have, and my parents certainly did not give in to our whims. They were strict, but fair. I am talking now of quite a few years ago.

 

You cannot imagine how much I miss my Dad. He was quite an extraordinary person. Very sound and sensible, as well as so many other great qualities.

He was also a most humane man.

 

I do know that some things nowadays may not have changed for the better. But we have to take into account all kinds of factors that did not exist back then.

 

I am appalled an horrified that he would shoot your dog in front of you. How traumatic, and cruel.

 

I hope you have ahd a look at the link I think I mentioned in an earlier post:

 

link removed

 

As regards that teacher, well I think you have a case, but it is up to you.

 

Good luck

Hermes

[Hermes]

Again, Carol, have to disagree (lol)

 

I'm glad I was able to catch the last of it before it was destroyed by the chaos we have today.

 

There is chaos in some places, but it is not the general state of affairs everywhere. I live in a small development, country-ish area, many families here have children/young people, and they are really good kids. Sometimes a ball goes over into my back garden. If I am out there I throw it back over the wall, but if not, they come to the front door to ask can they go in and get the ball.

 

There are all kinds, now, back then and centuries ago IMO.

 

Hermes