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Hortn8r@reddit

Belt, fly swatter, shoes, pans, hand, my Greek mom beat my ass when i acted up and i probably deserved every bit. And as a Gen X adult i’m glad she did.

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My mom didn’t hit me, except twice. Once when I was three and I hit her and she hit me back. And once when I was 16 and she popped me in the mouth for being horribly rude to her. Not hard and I think it was a reflex because we both looked surprised.

If my parents could reach it, I got hit with it. The principal at my ES had a, "Board of Education".

I learned how to act in public. But I never laid a hand on my child. Raised them right and didn't need to.

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AntheaBrainhooke@reddit

Hand, belt, wooden spoon, cord from the electric jug.

My father came after me one day when I was about nine to beat me. I can’t remember what I’d done; he always had an excuse. I backed into a corner and pulled a chair in front of me. He grabbed me, pulled me out of the corner and proceeded to give me an even worse beating for daring to attempt to defend myself.

He smacked me round the head so hard my glasses broke and fell off my face and my ears rang. The ringing never stopped so I asked Mum to take me to the doctor. The doctor ordered x-rays which showed damage to the internal structures of my left ear. I have had tinnitus ever since then. I was 15. I’m 57 now.

Cali_Longhorn@reddit

I got the belt from dad. I’d never do that to my kids, but yeah it stoked fear for sure.

I’d get called in when I messed up. I’d see dad slowly remove his belt and it was like seeing Jason from Friday the 13th coming.

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wherehasthisbeen@reddit

Same ! It was the unbuckling of the belt I wound instantly be in tears

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JonCocktoastin@reddit

Spanking. I understand why it was thought to be effective, but I could never do it with my own. I’m sure it affected my subconscious views of certain topics like violence, justice and authority.

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angelyze124@reddit

My mother would hit me with a rattan carpet spanker. It left a lovely design on my thighs 😕

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DirkDiggler1970s@reddit

Mom once stabbed me in the arm with her fork when I was being annoying at the dinner table.

Not all her strength, but enough to slightly break the skin/leave a mark.

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Desperate-Lie-460@reddit

My mother would spank me with her hand or one of my dad's belts.

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Snoo58207@reddit

My mom once spanked me with a section of Hot Wheels track.

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pprchsr21@reddit

The "go pick your own switch" type

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I’m not going to go into what was done to me. But, I will say that the cycle STOPPED with me.

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BigFitMama@reddit

Me too. I spent my life helping kids and teens like me.

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Purple-Quantity-6441@reddit

Same! And that is the most important thing. I swatted my daughter's hand once.... because she was trying to climb the TV stand and it scared the crap out of me. I cried after and have never laid a hand on her since.

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Stigger32@reddit

Yeh ditto.

Although there was one time. My eldest was five years old. Just out of the bath. With only a pyjama top on. Running around screaming he wasn’t going to bed. He ran past me. And I smacked his arse just because it was there.

He stopped. Screamed. And ran straight to bed. It was the first (And last time) I ever hit him.

I couldn’t stop laughing. It was so funny. His face. That red arse with my hand print on it.

Hand, Spoon, board, belt, mouth washed out with soap and slapped across the face plus I spent about half of high school and junior high grounded for talking back.

The great majority of these punishments were arbitrary and undeserved.

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HelloThisIsPam@reddit

It's the arbitrary and undeserved that still follows me into adulthood. I also got beat and punished for nothing, for the look on my face when that's literally just how my face looked. We carry that and it comes out in our own relationships now, unless you do tons of therapy, which I have done, but it's still not enough to undo all that.

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pygstasis@reddit

Belt beating on bare skin. Raised welts and top layer of skin coming off like a bad sunburn. For pulling myself up to look over our fence to talk to the neighbor. Because I was once told not to do that, and the beating was because I didn't understand I could not break any rules.

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HelloThisIsPam@reddit

A simple "get down from there" probably would have sufficed. I'm so sorry they did this to you. I got beat for the tiniest of transgressions as well, even for just a look on my face when I was trying to make my face look as neutral as humanly possible, but it wasn't possible, because that's how my face looked.

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Genuine907@reddit

Man, I reject the whole premise of this question. We were beaten as children and many of us accepted abuse in our lives in other ways because of it.

Nothing good comes from terrorizing anyone with threats of physical abuse.

The fact that we survived it should be our reason for not continuing to pretend it was okay.

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HelloThisIsPam@reddit

That's exactly right. I accepted so much abuse from "friends," from romantic partners for much of my life. I am now so touchy about it that any sign of abuse and I will cut someone out of my life so fast.

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AppropriateAd7422@reddit

I never accepted it.

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juiceguy@reddit

My parents were huge fans of James Dobson, a man who pushed a Christian philosophy that regarded the physical punishment of children as young as toddlers as not only acceptable, but as necessary. In this worldview, children are born with a "sin nature," and this sin has to be beaten out of them. In my house, any deflection from perfect and immediate submission to my parents' will was seen as an invitation to such a beating.

To be honest, I don't even remember what "crimes" I committed to deserve most of these beatings. As an adult, I've tried very hard to recall what precipitated these events, and while I can remember hundreds of beatings in sharp detail, I can only recall the actions that inspired them a couple of times. The few I can remember seemed arbitrary and relatively minor.

One particular event stands out. I was eight years old. My bedroom door was at the end of the hallway to the left, and my parents' room was directly across to the right. I was walking to my room, and seeing that my parents' door was open, I moved very slowly and deliberately across the carpet so as not to make a sound. Making any kind of sound in the house was a surefire way to ignite my father's rage. Step by step, I carefully moved down the hallway, my eyes laser-focused on the open door to the right. A few more steps and I would be clear of the threat and safe in my room.

As I got to the end of the hallway, my father rose from his bed and asked me why I was acting so suspiciously. I didn't have a good answer for him. I was just trying to get into my room without attracting his notice. "What did you do wrong?" he said. "You're acting guilty, so you must have done something wrong. GO TO YOUR ROOM AND WAIT FOR ME."

That was my cue, and this was the beginning of the ritual.

I knew the ritual well, and there was no faltering from it. I was expected to go to my room, pull down my pants and underwear, kneel before my bed, fold my hands, and face the wall. I had to wait there in that position for as long as it took my father to get ready. Sometimes it was five minutes. Sometimes fifteen. My father would then enter the room and remove his belt. I would hear the sound of the buckle slipping through the loops—a small metallic scrape that made my whole body go rigid. If he caught me away from the bed, or not staring directly at the wall, my punishment would be increased. Sometimes he would make a comment about how this was "hurting him more than it hurt me," or that he was only doing this because he "loved me."

After I heard the belt come off, I had to sit there in silence, my head motionless and fixed on the wall. He had this habit of doublung up the belt and cracking it against itself, almost as if to add a layer of added dread to the proceedings. I had no idea when the first crack of the belt would land on my skin. The minimum count was always ten. If I made the slightest movement or sound, the count would restart at zero. In the earliest days, when I had not yet learned the art of being still, the belt landed wherever my small body twisted. On my back, my hips, my head, my face. This was my fault, because I was the one who moved. Any whimper was treated as a request to receive "something to REALLY cry about."

I learned to be still. I learned to be silent. I learned to be small. I learned to be invisible.

Although my jaw was clenched shut and my lips were firmly pressed together, I was screaming on the inside. As each strike landed, I envisioned the horrible things that I would one day do to my father. My mind took me away to a faraway place, and I dreamed of sharp blades and blunt instruments and lots of blood.

In the end, I never enacted any of my revenge fantasies. The thing that stayed with me was a promise I made to myself: if I ever had children, they would never be forced to live through this. I did have two kids of my own, and I did keep that promise. I also kept them safe from the religious brainwashing that my own parents tried to impart upon me and which justified this inhuman behavior in the first place.

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HelloThisIsPam@reddit

This genuinely made me cry. What an absolute horror nightmare you lived through. And people wonder why Gen X are the way we are. My dad always used to hit me saying that I had a guilty look on my face (it was literally just my face), and he would say "I don't know what you did, but I'm sure you did something" before he hit me. I had literally done nothing but existed. I was a tiny little girl.

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Weird-one0926@reddit

I'm glad you survived 🫂

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Minnie-Mae@reddit

Me too. You should not have had to live in fear of the people who were supposed to love you the most.

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sayitsooth@reddit

A wooden spoon was once broken when I was being disciplined.

ChubbyMermaidFL@reddit

A leather belt! My dad would literally say..."I will beat your ass until your nose bleeds!"

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Ravenwolven1@reddit

My step dad loved the belt. I got it for literally everything. He'd hit me so bad that one time a teacher saw the bruises and threatened to call the police. It didn't stop. When I was in 9th grade I was part of an after school artist's guild. One of our projects was making leather belts. My teacher flipped a handful of belt blanks onto his shoulder to free up his hands when he was standing near me. I ducked and cringed out of reflex in front of everyone. The look of sadness on his face...he said, "someone gets the belt" and quickly changed the subject to try to spare my embarrassment.

I remember my stepdad was wailing on my brother who was 5 years younger. My brother was pretty little and tried hiding in the bottom bunk, screaming, as my step dad (his father) leaned in after him continuing the beating. I was probably 14 or so. I grabbed the back of stepdad's pants and yanked him out from under the bunk rapping the back of his head on the top bunk. It was such a satisfying sound. I became the target after that but at least he wasn't hitting my little brother.

Things really escalated after that. I became the target of full-blown punches. One of those times was when I was 15 going on 16. I was dating a guy from church who was 20. We were churchies who believed in saving it for marriage, in other words both of us were virgins. We weren't messing around like my step dad accused us of. We were in the basement playing shuffleboard when he came down and started yelling at my boyfriend and throwing around accusations and threatening to kick my boyfriend's ass. My boyfriend had been maintaining his calm but finally agreed that if my step dad wanted to fight, he'd fight him outside. I was really looking forward to it because my boyfriend was not only fresh out of the army but was a body builder too. It would have been nice to see that loudmouth child molester of a stepdad get his ass handed to him.

My boyfriend went up the stairs first and out the side door at the head of the stairs. I was right behind him but instead of going out the door I was pushed to the left and into the kitchen. My step dad was right behind me and he shut the outside door and locked it then sucker punched me right in the face breaking my nose for the first time. My boyfriend about ripped the door off the hinges until my mom said she was calling the police. My boyfriend left begrudgingly. I really don't know what happened after that. I was barely conscious. They threatened my boyfriend bad enough that he didn't come back right away then he was in a bad car accident (unrelated). Shortly after, his brother tried to kill him when they got in a fight so things went in the can with that relationship as we both had too much going on.

The following year I got in a fight with my step dad again really bad. I can't quite remember what it was about. I wasn't a bad kid. I think it was for saying I was going to clean my room but only shoving all the clothes that were on my floor into my closet, not really putting them away. He sucker punched me again. He hit me so hard that my head left a D shaped crack in the wall. I'd just missed the marble windowsill by 2 inches. It stunned me and I fell on the floor on my back. My hand landed on my old baton, a metal tube with rubber ends that'd worn through from use. As my brain flickered and came back online, my first coherent thought was of putting a straw through a potato. I was going to use that metal straw to put through the stepdad potato. My mom was screaming at him from the hallway he was shouting at her, still in my room. I got up, staggering with that baton in my fist and lunged for him. My mom screamed at him to look out and as I swung, he dodged me and ran out the door. I missed and took a huge scrape out of the door. I remember the look of fear in his eyes. He didn't come back for three days. That time, I ran away from home.

My step dad started following me from school to work trying to force me into the car. I hid in a mechanics shop. The guys there chased him off. I continued to my job at Tandy Leather and he showed up there. He got loud on my boss who simply showed him the big gun he carried in a holster on his hip. He was a quiet little Jewish guy but not only was he armed, he was a very, very good martial artist. He told me of the time he was a sparring partner with some guy named Chuck Norris. I had no idea who that was. After that little incident he started teaching me self defense. I owe that man my life. I found out recently that he'd passed away and it breaks my heart.

For 3 months I stayed with my mom's sister. They tried to force my parents to pay child support. In retaliation my parents emancipated me. Not making any money for me, my aunt threw me out. I bought a beat up old junker and lived in it behind my job until the snow got so bad I almost died in said car. By then I was dating a guy with a big Italian family. His mom took me in. I stayed with them until I found my biological dad. Turns out he was even more violent than my stepdad. He didn't molest me though and I knew self defense by this point. I used it on him when he'd grabbed me by the throat and slammed me against some cabinets. I broke his hold and knocked him back, knocking the wind out of him. I moved out.

My Italian boyfriend and I had broke up shortly after I found my bio dad over his wanting 6 kids and me wanting 0. I started dating a much older guy who was seriously bad news. My step mom and mom got to talking and my mom convinced me to go with her and my stepdad on the yearly family trip to Florida, on the other side of the country, to see my grandparents. The fuckers left me in Florida with my grandparents. They abandoned me, unannounced, 1200 miles from home. I lost my car because of this since it was still in Michigan.

Mom used a fly swatter. Spankings were inevitably for repeatedly ignoring what we were told to do or specifically told not to do. So it was usually basic defiance.

Dad used his hand. There was also an old wooden, carved paddle from when he was a teacher.

sullen_agreement@reddit

i got the belt a few times, when mom was going through her super religious phase there were paddles - they didnt hit very hard, but did leave marks - soap in the mouth, grounding obviously

but the very worst thing was grandma making us kneel on hard floors for like 20 minutes

We also had a wooden spoon. We lived in fear as three children close in age together. The worst part was really the psychological torture. When we all had done something bad our parents would line us up and we'd have to watch the other one ahead of us get hit and just wait for our turn to come. We also got hit with the wooden pole that you use to keep the window open and just hands. My dad favored the hold on to your shoulder and squeeze so hard method because he mostly cared about public behavior and that is a publicly acceptable way to abuse your children.

I also had severe ADHD that was of course not diagnosed until much later in life. So I'm sure I had many incidents where I was beat for things that I couldn't really help.

I also have a very distinct and terrifying memory of one time we were home with a babysitter and she had put us three to nap and we were kind of messing around and we didn't know how to pretend to be asleep. So when she came up to the bedroom to check on us I lay stiff as a plank because I thought that's how people slept. But obviously I was not sleeping and she gave me this humongous and very painful whack on the butt that scared me and really hurt me and I feel like I have some issues from that one.

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Secret_Computer4891@reddit

Belts and switches were the go-to. I was also jabbed with thumbtacks. Locked in a dark closet. Fists. Remember those metal range top rings? Had one flung at me like a freaking ninja star!

Bahlore@reddit

First off, I earned every ass whoopen I got; my mom used to smack me sometimes and say "And that's for all the shit I didnt catch you doing!" Normally it was the wooden spoon (she broke 2 or 3 on my ass) or a weeping willow branch; or a belt, but mostly the wooden spoon was her favorite.

I remember one day after mom had asked me to do something like four or five times and I ignored her, dad got home; I was about 14 at the time. he walked by while I was sitting on the couch, snatched me up with one hand and pinned me against the wall by my shirt collar and looked me in the eye and said "If you dont straighten up right now I'm going to kill you" 10 min later after my heart started beating again, I figured it might be a real good idea to do what my mom said.

Funny thing is, my dad never hit me; mom did a lot, dad just had that voice and presence that made me think that if I ever pissed him off enough to have him actually do it, I would not survive the encounter.

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Square_Medicine_9171@reddit

You didn’t deserve any of that

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cdanew@reddit

Wooden yard stick here. My mother broke several over my rear end while I was in elementary school.

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ssevcik@reddit

I absolutely spank my kids if they have earned it. Exactly the same as I had it in the 70’s/80’s

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I got the belt, fly flap, switch or hand. Why? Mainly talking back.

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beccabebe@reddit

Granny used the switch Dad used the belt Mom used her emotions

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None. First generation flower child. Born in the Bay. Parents were hippies. Called out teachers by their first names.

Dick-Guzinya@reddit

No my parents but I went to a strict Catholic grade school where I had to kneel on pencils once in 4th grade for talking too much.

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TaylorDurdan@reddit

My mom and I got the absolute shit beat out of us for any transgression.

AlissonHarlan@reddit

Slaps, spanking...the normal things.

Nonetheless, we were slapped for reasons like ''do you know why you're crying?"

So instead of being taught about emorional management, i just keep crying my whole life, outt of sadness, despaire, anger, frustration, and so on

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Wolf_Dog_10@reddit

Belt, hand, wooden spoon, willow tree branch. And then we would get in trouble again because the wooden spoon broke

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Timely-Computer4105@reddit

Plenty. Face, ass, diaphragm with open hand, belt, and foot. Mostly my dad. A few from the elementary school principal. There is one that still pisses me off. I was in 7th grade at an all-day track meet. Us pole vaulters were done early and I was hungry. There was a vending machine inside the school and my mom had given me money for that purpose. I went to use it and some kids told me it wasn’t working very well. I put quarters in it anyway for a candy bar or a Twinkie (whatever it was) and it appeared to work as the metal spiral was turning but then stopped short of releasing the snack. I started pounding on the glass trying to vibrate it into falling. Apparently word got out to the adults in charge of the event that kids were beating on the vending machines. I happen to be the one who was caught by the coach who looked like a powerlifter with a buzz cut on a mission to teach those kids a lesson. He grabbed a fist full of my sweatshirt right at the neck and shoved me against the concrete wall while pushing his fist into my neck so hard I couldn’t breath. He yelled something to the effect of ‘I better not catch another one of you SOB’s pounding on the machine.’ He released me and I ran as fast as I could out of there and back into the sea of middle schoolers on the football field waiting for their event. Within 5mins I see him and a few other chaperones looking for me with the intensity in their eyes that more was coming my way. So I took off my blue sweatshirt so they wouldn’t recognize me. They didn’t. But what if they had? Was I going to get suspended or worse for trying to get what I paid for after being assaulted by an event official?

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Top_Management7550@reddit

A belt by my dad. It was so bad that I had my 3rd grade teacher take me out in the hallway so I could talk to her and pull down my pants to show her the bruises on my legs at the same time asking her to give me better grades so I wouldn't keep getting hit. Back then, the schools/teachers didn't call the cops.

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Intermountain-Gal@reddit

I was spanked once. I vaguely remember being emotionally devastated by it. I also promptly had a serious asthma attack and ended up in the hospital.

They discovered that sending me to my room had about the same effect on me as a spanking would with other kids.

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thetjmorton@reddit

Kneeling on chopsticks. Not kidding.

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greydog2008@reddit

I got the belt...I cut my own switches...

But my mom's favorite tool of discipline was the metal handle flyswatter. Especially in the car.

Today's kids? They could use a dose of the flyswatter. You know they've never heard the sound of a leather belt whistling as it is being yanked out of a pair of Levi's.

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Stigger32@reddit

The hand before 10. The wooden spoon up till 13. The jug cord 13-15. The fist at 15.

I fought back at 15. Got kicked out for my efforts. Best thing to ever happen.

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FuzzBuzzer@reddit

I always said I would fight to the death to defend myself if my parents ever beat me. I never had to, but kudos to you for fighting back. Getting kicked out set you free.

Dare I ask, what the hell is a jug cord?

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Stigger32@reddit

This old gem. Stung like a bastard.

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FuzzBuzzer@reddit

Oh christ. That looks horrible. I'm sorry.

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thepuncroc@reddit

Obligatory couple of generic and unimportant spankings. These would e been up to age.four before words and reason were useful. I was pretty much an ange as.far.as.kods.go. almost never in trouble.

However, my grandmother was a sadist. Ever have someone threaten to wash your mouth out with soap? As a four year old I repeated a word I heard an adult say. Luck the Magic Dragon needed a friend, named him Fuck the magic dragon. Twenty minutes with a bar if soap in my mouth.

Another time I ran through the house. For that, kneeling in gravel she dragged onto the paved driveway for an hour.

Being locked in a brom closet for hours. I was maybe 5.

So yeah, it was child.abuse. My grandmother was a fucked up person and effectively a primary caregiver.for most early years of my life while my single mom was off working full time an hour and a half away. My mom didn't protect me. Gaslit lil baby I was.

I'm an atheist and thought less of my family for their idiotic fairytales. But sometimes, I hope I'm wrong and the Catholic bullshit she subscribed to is real--because it brings me comfort knowing she'd be being tortured in pits of eternal damnation now.

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Aamrie69@reddit

We got the bar of soap... my mom would rub it on our teeth and not let us have any way to remove it

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Fickle_Tap7908@reddit

This was in the South, during Jr. High. The teacher was away, we had a sub, and we reportedly ran wild. The teacher came back the next day and offered us two choices: (1) Write 200 sentences or (2) Take 3 licks from the paddle. A few wise-ass guys (myself included) chose the 2nd option. I doubt the option was offered to female students. We had to bend over and the teacher took a full swing. Hurt like hell.

I still talk with a therapist weekly

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Budgiejen@reddit

Mostly just spankings, but one time at my cousin’s house we had to put soap in our mouths. I was very careful not to touch it with my tongue. We had to leave teeth marks on it.

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PhantomCLE@reddit

My dad would smack us. Wherever his fist hit first.

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snebmiester@reddit

Paddle in school and the Belt at home.

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Hands, hot wheel tracks, yardsticks, slippers, belts, wooden spoons, and even a tree switch. Basically whatever was handy at the time.

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Super_Ad4363@reddit

Belts, boots, fists, and literal tools used by Dad.

Same!

My mom got beaten by her parents as a child and swore she would never do that to her own children.

My mom had her faults but overall, my brothers and I were damn lucky. Seeing friends get hit by their parents absolutely terrified me.

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Designer_End5408@reddit

My mom did too and never laid a hand on me and my siblings. But my father was also physically abused by his mother, and boy did he beat the snot out of us.

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Open_Mortgage_4645@reddit

It's weird that children are the only group of people these parents advocate for assaulting as a solution to their problems.

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Different switches, sticks, rulers (those metal ones really stung), belts, slippers (rubber and wooden), stuff that was used once or twice that I don’t remember.

Stand in the corner, get thrown there, stand in the corner carrying the white and yellow pages…

My wife had it a bit worse, when they couldn’t find anything to spank with she got punched in the gut. She was put in a sack and hung on a low tree.

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HermioneMarch@reddit

WTF?

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tango421@reddit

Fortunately, my younger cousins didn’t experience this anymore. Only us older cousins did. There was about a five year gap from the youngest of the “older cousins” to the eldest of the “younger cousins” where a version of CPS here in our country came into prominence. It was also all over the place and kids could call.

My parents were hippies who were opposed to corporal punishment, thank goodness. I grew up poor, but have a pretty nice life now, married for 40 years, and I am a good person. They taught me why it’s better to be good than bad - no violence needed. My husband and I have raised our son the same way, and he’s also a good, hardworking person, whose coworkers and bosses have always loved and respected him. Again, never any need to hurt him

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Past_Walk_3605@reddit

My disappointment in my kids behavior was worse to them than if I hit them, which I never have

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Flat_Cantaloupe645@reddit

Exactly

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rosesforthemonsters@reddit

My parents should have been in jail for the things that they did to my siblings and me.

My mother's preferred method of "discipline" was having us put our forehead and hands on the closet door and stand there while she whaled on us until she got tired of hitting us. She beat me so badly one time that my grandmother had to take me to the emergency room.

My father's preferred method of "discipline" was backhanding us across the face. Always with his left hand so his wedding ring would catch us. He hit my sister so hard one time that he chipped her front teeth and knocked her down the stairs.

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Solid-Wish-1724@reddit

That's fucking horrifying. I'm sorry you endured that.

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Claque-2@reddit

Glad you survived it.

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Hungry-Treacle8493@reddit

My older siblings got full beatings. I only got them until I was in 4th grade. Then things shifted a bit as the family was moving every few months and my parents speeding towards divorce. At that point it was just slapping. It was in 8th grade when I caught my mother’s hand as she was going to hit me and I calmly stated, “No. Hitting isn’t how we solve things”. That was the end of corporal punishment forever.

**sure enough, my oldest sibling who got beat the worst went on to beat several spouses and become an addict most of his life. He finally got right a few years before he died.

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Claque-2@reddit

No parent wanted to dispense punishment in front of other adults so moms would dig their bald eagle talons into your arm when telling you nicely to help out in the kitchen.

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Solid-Wish-1724@reddit

Oh I remember the pinching at the store when I threatened to call the police for child abuse! I was probably 6.

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Unreasonable_beastie@reddit

“I never got the wooden spoon, my mom used a metal one and cracked me on the head with it. Dad slapped me on the face in public and smacked me with a belt and his hand. I can still feel the burning shame when I think about it today. I chose not to have kids.

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Hungry-Compote-2306@reddit

Definitely got slapped in the face plenty. Not OK now, wasn't OK then. When I was 12, I was finally as tall as my mom, and once when she did it, I got real quiet and looked her in the eye, and said, "Don't you ever do that to me again."

She never did.

Guess all you had to do in my household was be physically big enough to threaten someone back, heh.

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Few-Pineapple-5632@reddit

I reached up and caught my mom’s hand mid slap. I could see the shock and realization in her eyes. She never hit me again.

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Hungry-Compote-2306@reddit

I keep seeing this theme repeat itself in responses to this post. It's kind of disturbing that physicality or threats with teeth were a primary way to get them to stop. If that isn't bullying, I don't know what is.

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Few-Pineapple-5632@reddit

When you scroll through it, it’s all disturbing. Many of us here can count more than 5 instruments used to hit us. It’s shocking that we made it through and just went on.

My dad was one of those who made you go get the belt off the hook. But I think I’m in the minority, because every spanking began with why I was getting spanked and ended with I love you. I remember my dad telling me once that be was too mad to spank me because he didn’t want to punish me out of anger.

God I'm so sorry that happened to you. You didn't deserve that and it hurts to read your story. HUGS.

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joeyjoeskullcracker@reddit

It is what it is. Me and my two best brothers (we grew up on the same street) were the boys that got beat and our sisters never got any kind of physical punishment. No fault of their own. I love all of them. Seems like all of our dads liked to swing the belt. We’re all close in age, I’m 50. This pic was last Friday. I love these two guys more than the air I breathe. We still talk every single day. I love them so much.

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goobernawt@reddit

Hand, belt, assorted wood products, saddle blanket, you name it. I'm 50 years old and still coming to terms with the fact that my childhood wasn't great.

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My parents were both strongly against physical punishment for various reasons. My Mom’s grandfather came over from the Netherlands as a Jewish refugee. He was apparently never observant & kind of dropped the religion entirely. My grandparents ended up being presbyterian. I ended at a a catholic school & my Mom wasn’t too happy about that but there weren’t any better options in the area.

So that’s the background that explains why my Mom fucking DROPPED me one day. We’d had religious instruction that day & had been regaled with stories of how the terrible Jews killed Jesus (no, Mel Gibson was not my teacher) so I got home & asked Mom why the Jews killed Jesus & WHAMMO! I was on my ass.

At school, I remember a wooden paddle to the behind in first grade, and a wooden ruler to the palm in 3rd grade. Although I can't remember now if I just saw the ruler used on classmates, or had it used on me.

At home, it was switches, flyswatter, belt, or hand. I never had to cut the switch myself, but do remember having to go get the belt. Lol

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jrb637@reddit

Leather belt at home, and wooden paddle at school

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Groovychick1978@reddit

Jesus Christ, they really beat the shit out of us, didn't they?

Let's just stop hitting the kids. There are better ways. They require more effort, but that's the job.

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Tacos_N_Bourbon@reddit

Does a wooden spoon count? It was most definitely a weapon of ass destruction back in my day.

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Available_Wolf1059@reddit

We had to go get a “switch” off a tree. I was the youngest and got away with the most. But my older brothers warned me “don’t pick a switch from the weeping willow. It’s the smallest but it hurts the worst. Try and find a thick, bent branch it will hurt but not as bad as the willow”.

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Groovychick1978@reddit

Never pick a bendy one. We had to use mimosa switches. 😬

So flexible. So thin.

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According-Property64@reddit

Stick to ass but it was only once, especially after I (in talking back form) told my dad that it was considered legal abuse and it better not happen again...

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The belt.

The wooden spoon.

The tablespoon of horseradish for telling a lie or being “mouthy”.

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greek-lit@reddit

Leather belt on bare butt > psychological abuse with anger and threats that could last more than a week. They don’t remember any of it.

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BeautifulPainz@reddit

I watched my father do this to my older sister until she was literally bleeding everywhere. I was probably five years old and it was so traumatizing.

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greek-lit@reddit

That’s awful! I feel for her.

I never bled but it stung bad. My mom hit us with the belt too but she ultimately resorted to telling my dad at work in tears to make him anger for when he got home to wack us. She seemed to enjoy it because she would tell us “just wait till your dad gets home” and walk away. Never was there any kind of discussion about expectations or rational for the punishment. Typically it was because we were goofing off when mom wanted us to clean.

It’s a difficult thing to process as an adult knowing what I know now and the religious belief system in our family.

One time while at church my mom was upset with me and took me outside in the summer in AZ and put me in the car with the windows up. She supervised outside so I didn’t expire of heat stroke. Nothing like that would fly today. It boggles my mind why even soft torture was tolerated.

Switch, belt, paddle, slap cross the face.

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Cranks_No_Start@reddit

I don't have to go pick out my own switch like she had to.

My wife was telling me a story from her youth. Her sister did something and her mother told her to go outside and find a switch. Now her sister was a little bit a bitch as a kid and older (she was 5-6 at this time) would tease, harass and hit her…so that will likely explain what happened.

A few minutes later she comes running back in and says “Look mom I found a good one, it has a nail in it”. Her sister was pissed and her mom was trying not to laugh.

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HelloThisIsPam@reddit

Not the nail!!!!

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haventsleptforyears@reddit

Spanking. I used to fantasize that my butt could grow spikes by will whenever the spankings would come on. Lots of times I used to think “how could you do this, I’m gonna get you back”

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Komaisnotsalty@reddit

My mom had a solid oak hair brush that tanned my ass more than once, or cracked me upside the head with. She'd turn it on it's side so I'd get cracked with the edge. She had it until I was in my late teens and I've never loathed a hairbrush so much in my life because why I got hit was usually very stupid and the violence far outweighed the 'sin'.

She beat me once to blood with a piece of 2x4. Yep, I deserved to get in trouble, but not like that. I would have been around 8.

One babysitter I had when I was between ages 4-5 whipped me with a vacuum cleaner cord and she'd leave me outside in heat or snow for hours. She had a huge patch of nasturtiums and I'd hide underneath them and often fall asleep.

And the crazy part of that is: none of that was considered abuse back then. I told people. After the 2x4 incident, I was limping and told a teacher and was told I deserved it.

Even today, no one in my family thinks it was abuse.

It absolutely was abuse. My mom should have been in jail and I should have been removed.from the family.

My dad never lay a hand on me (except once when he caught me smoking cigarettes at age 14 and he backhanded me when I told him to fuck off) but he didn't speak against it either.

Mom never disciplined my brothers but she bullied the hell out of my sister and would sometimes whack her too. Dunno why mom hated us girls so much.

Dad would do psychological things. He liked to wake me up by bursting in to my room and bang on a pot lid with a metal spoon, scaring the absolute shit outta me. He'd raid my room looking for 'contraband' and chewed my self-esteem to nothing.

I left home the first time when I was 15 and for good when I was 18.

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HelloThisIsPam@reddit

Holy shit.

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iloveairportsushi@reddit

Oh! Another victim of the 2x4!! I thought I was the only one. I’m so sorry 😞

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Komaisnotsalty@reddit

Sorry you experienced it too. There's just no excuse.

It's not lost on me that there were no consequences to my mom for that but had she done that to an adult, she'd have been arrested and charged.

HelloThisIsPam@reddit

OMG. This is…Just wow.

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Extrasauce5000@reddit

Jesus! That’s so awful 😞

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Ok-Till-5285@reddit

Spanking with a belt, on our butt, never more than 3 spanks, and NEVER if Dad was angry. He would wait until he was calm, then would methodically spank no more than 3 times and only on the butt. He was an abused child and believed in disciplineand consequences, but never if there was a chance he could lose control. Good man he was.

Mom was a belt or wooden spoon.

But honestly, we almost never got a spanking. Between all of us kids we can only recall a couple of spankings each in our lives. Grounding? yeah, those were more often for sure.

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mrplow999@reddit

School principal has a paddle with holes in it. Made a whistle as it flew before it made contact.

Nuns used a yardstick or the pointer stick (ouch)

Pop used his belt

Mom was handy with a slap

Unlikely-Ad2660@reddit

Willow switch for us. Was kept on top of the fridge. Also got the belt once or twice, hair brush once and a boat paddle one time when I really missed off my dad.

Generally deserved it.

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whippy_grep@reddit

Boat paddle? Whoa. 🫡

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Unlikely-Ad2660@reddit

That was the last time I wacked. I think he realized. That was over the top.

I dont have kids, but suspect it would have ended poorly.

I think I got spanked once. My mom said all they had to do was give me a dirty look and I'd cry for days.

The school required parental consent to use corporal punishment and my mother never gave it. (My father might have, but he was working, doing hobbies, or watching TV and didn't concern himself with school stuff except for our clothes, which were always too tight or something else).

GboyFlex@reddit

My Mom and dad were "draggers"...never really hit me or spanked. I just got dragged into timeout which was me standing in a corner staring at the walls for an eternity (20 minutes). Only other thing I can remember is my Mom throwing one of her ballerina slippers at me, I'd have to remember to not laugh.

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SubstanceNo1544@reddit

Dad = belt

Stepmother = wooden spoon

All i learned was how to be sneaker and not get caught.

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solar-shock@reddit

He was also beaten and smacked on the knuckles with a ruler by the nuns at school.

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Tim-oBedlam@reddit

I was fortunate; my parents rarely laid a hand on me at all.

Only time I can remember being slapped was when I honestly deserved it; I told a joke with an N-bomb in it ("Hard R" as they say these days") and my Dad backhanded me across the face and told me to never say that word in his presence again.

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jamescockroft@reddit

Belt, fly swatter, fly swatter handle (metal and plastic). A hand a time or two.

mramseyISU@reddit

My great grandmother used to threaten us with a canoe paddle. I only ever saw her use it once on an older cousin. Usually it was a bare hand and then you had to endure 20 minutes sitting on a stone hearth across the room from great grandpa who spent that whole 20 minutes making fun of you for getting caught doing something stupid.

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moonbeam127@reddit

So many broken wooden spoons. I don’t have a single wooden spoon in my house. The memories never fade

Throwing slippers, throwing a bag of carrots, so much screaming, being sent to my room ( this one was peaceful). Flat out beatings.

Yeah it doesn’t make it better but it was actually common. The girl across the street from me often had belt shaped bruises on her legs and the boy in the next house was frequently beaten about the head in full view of the neighborhood. No one did anything. No one but us kids ever even said anything.

I was hit pretty regularly but never like that. I’m sorry for your experiences.

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heresjoanie@reddit

Jesus, that’s brutal. Wtf.

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Pypsy143@reddit

First of all, no matter how you were acting, you never “deserved” to be assaulted with a weapon. It breaks my heart to hear people say they deserved abuse.

There are a hundred effective ways to teach children everything they need to learn that do not require violence. I will say again, you did not deserve it.

Now to answer your question - the wooden spoon was one of my mom’s favorites too! She was also known to use a metal spatula and her hand quite frequently.

My dad’s weapon of choice was the belt. And one time he beat me with my own shoe.

Mom took care of the day to day beatings. Dad’s beatings were for when you did something really bad. I couldn’t tell you what a single one of my transgressions were, but I definitely remember all the beatings. I was a really good kid, too - straight As, never mouthed off, did all my chores, etc. Why did they beat me so much?

My mom usually dealt out the discipline. Her go to was to take away a privilege or make me skip a birthday party or whatever if I had done something wrong. But she did spank, usually with her hand, but sometimes with a belt, until I was maybe 12 or so. As a teenager, she slapped me across the face once because she said I was back talking. Anything that wasn't total submission to her was considered back talking.

Not a physical punishment, but she yelled and screamed regularly.

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walterssnackbitch@reddit

Wooden spoon and negligence. One extreme or the other. Super fun... /s

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Mewsie93@reddit

My life and probably half of GenX’s.

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Working_Park4342@reddit

Belt, steel-toed boots, slapped in the head with their rings on. One time my mother asked how I got the goose egg bump on my forehead. I was sitting on the floor across the room and told her she did it, with her rings on, when she hit me. She told me I was lying and left the room.

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eat-real-chips@reddit

Spanking either on bare butt or through clothes. Usually with a slipper.

Being sent to room with no dinner

If I didn’t like dinner (eg veg etc) I’d be shamed and sent to my room, starving. the dinner plate would go on the fridge and it would be served cold at breakfast. I would have to eat it, or starve, or puke. I now know was undiagnosed autistic with sensory issues with certain foods/textures.

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Valuable-Vacation879@reddit

Spanked, hair pulled, thwacked on the head, arms grabbed

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Tigrisrock@reddit

Teachers threw keychain rings or chalk at those who disturbed class. I got slapped by my mom twice. Once for tearing a new pair of trousers while climbing over a fence and the other time for sneaking away into a construction site and (finding the key under the seat) starting up an excavator. My dad slapped me once bc my mom was up in tears bc I had a really bad biking accident when we (my bike "gang") illegally entered a closed moto-X area and tried some stunts - I landed in the ER.

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Kodiak01@reddit

Belts, spatulas, wooden spoons, bricks, tree branches, frying pans, kitchen chairs, slamming the door of a '76 Skylark shut on the arm, a VCR, a 9 iron (from ~30' away while out on a golf course), among various other items...

What did I do to deserve it?

I existed.

That's it. My crime was to exist.

I was nothing more than a vehicle for them to first attempt to relive their glory days of athletics (mother was a college swimmer, father a D1 lineman), then when the didn't work out I was little more than slave labor at their businesses.

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Sum1Xam@reddit

I sincerely hope you've recovered and are happy now. From one abused genxer to another.

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Kodiak01@reddit

One abuser has been dead for several years, the other I have no clue as went full NC two decades ago.

I am doing a lot better, yes. Married 8.5 years, successful career, a small group of very close friends, much more stability than back then.

I hope you have been as lucky as I have to get as far as I have so far.

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SaintAlphonzo74@reddit

Whipped by leather belt, whipped by wooden dowel, knuckled on head.

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guiltyas-sin@reddit

My former step grandmonster was evil. She had this huge willow tree in the yard, and when she wanted to discipline us, she would say, "go get me a switch."

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Quirky-Bad857@reddit

Studies show that it definitely DOESN’T work!

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iggyomega@reddit

Belt a couple times. But I think the most disturbing in retrospect was having to stand in a corner. Makes me think of that scene in Blair Witch

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BMisterGenX@reddit

never at home but forced to stand in the corner at school several times still have trauma from it.

Grandma - Switch (recipient crafted)

Grandpa - run

I have not and never would use these types of punishments on children. I have raised a great son and was able to resolve issues with time outs and talking about the issues with him. Corporal punishment for me, created a lot of resentment and distrust. That is the only lesson I learned from it.

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BMisterGenX@reddit

I got hit on the but with wooden cutting board but not too often.

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MrsQute@reddit

Discipline doesn't have to be physical punishment. I disciplined my kids but I didn't have to hit them to do it. Walk your talk and back up your words.

Every single person I know who regularly experienced corporal punishment learned one thing across the board: how not to get caught. It didn't teach them to behave - it taught them how to hide mistakes, keep secrets, and not trust people.

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ThatLiberalGirl@reddit

Fuck that shit. I’ve got a 30 year old wonderful human that I never laid a hand on in discipline or anger. I’ve got a nephew of the same age that got his ass beat like we did and he’s a hoodlum.

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Thrashbear@reddit

Based granddad

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Lambears@reddit

Hands, hairbrush, belt, slapped across the face. Lots of yelling and cussing.

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Genny415@reddit

Spanked with a hand. Wooden spoon. Whipped with a belt

Hope it made dad feel like he was in charge, to be a grown man beating a little girl

This discussion is the saddest freaking thing I've seen in awhile. And no, y'all didn't deserve or earn getting beaten with an implement. That's abuse and it sucks.

A babysitter spanked once. I'm sure I didn't deserve it not that any kid deserves to be hit by any person, child, adult, or mutant.

Anecdotally, my siblings and I without the spankings, managed to grow into functioning, mostly disciplined, adults.

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HorseyDung@reddit

Once got a kick in the butt from my dad.

Turned out it was for something I didn't do.

He apologised.

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AppropriateAd7422@reddit

I had forgotten about the kicks!

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HorseyDung@reddit

It was in my case by no means full pull..

Just encouragement to go upstairs to my room.

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vonye25@reddit

The fly swatter was the tool of choice by my mom. My father rarely spanked us and if he did it was with a cupped hand so it didn’t hurt because we were girls.

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Livid_Bag_961@reddit

I think I got slapped once for talking back to my mom. And maybe lightly spanked once by my dad but only because all of us got in trouble and he couldn’t single me out. But I will state that I was the baby of the family (4 older siblings) and most likely my dad’s favorite. But my bros and sis definitely got beat with anything that was handy at the moment and would definitely be considered abused kids by today’s standards

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IRingTwyce@reddit

The occasional spanking. Always Dad. Usually a belt. There might have been the odd yardstick.

At school it was 3 swats with the wooden paddle.

I hold zero animosity or anger towards anyone who punished me that way and I think I'm a better person for having received it. It made me adverse to the negative consequences of bad behavior. I really feel like the move away from corporal punishment is a huge part of why people behave so poorly now.

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CK1277@reddit

While legal in my state, corporal punishment in school was unheard of in practice. I had a male teacher “jokingly” threaten. So I “jokingly” asked isn’t spanking a sexual fetish and isn’t it pretty weird to be bringing that up. So that was the first and last time he brought it up.

I was a really good student and never ever in trouble. But I knew how to go nuclear while not technically breaking any rules. To the shock of absolutely no one, I became a lawyer.

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Obahmah@reddit

Spanking usually it was more for show but there were times when A Broom or plastic Halloween Sword were used. In case of the Halloween Sword it was a Punishment fits the Crime situation.

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InvestmentFalse@reddit

I got spanked mainly by my mother’s hand. She did smack me on the bottom with a wooden ruler once for calling my brother a f*g. My dad only spanked me once, and that was with his hand. I don’t know why he spanked me that particular day.

NsubordinatNchurlish@reddit

Flat wood paddle with a hole in it. Purchased for me. Bad grades usually did it. I should have said something but you know, nobody else seemed pressed.

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7figureipo@reddit

Belt, hand, wooden paddle (principal’s choice weapon), belt buckle, switch from the yard, wooden dowels, one time the sole of a shoe. “This is gonna leave a mark, son” was pretty commonly heard in my house and at school. Soap in the mouth for cussing or fibbing, probably ate a good couple of bars worth of gold Dial over the course of my childhood.

I have not “disciplined” my kids in this way ever, and never will. And I’ll do my best to do illegal things to any adult that does or tries to. Because that was abuse, not discipline.

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coryphella123@reddit

Spankings via ping pong paddle.

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Embarrassed-Cause250@reddit

Had to line up in order of age for spankings (my sibs were my partners in crime), I was the youngest and so I was last.

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Amidormi@reddit

We got the belt, once. My mom was at a store like Target that had a salon in it. She told us to sit in the chairs and not move. Well it was taking forever and my mom was out of visual range so we want to the toy aisle to look at stuff. When she came out and found us, we got taken home and wooped with the belt. I think I was like 9 with my sister being 6.

These days she would have been in trouble for not minding us better and you know, for the belt.

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honey-squirrel@reddit

Those orange plastic tracks from our Hot Wheels set.

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Wactout@reddit

Spoon. Paddle. Switch. Extension cord. Shoes. Pans. Wire coat hangers. Fly swatter. Standing in a corner for hours.

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Dangerous_Waltz8276@reddit

I was beat - bare a$$ - with his thick black belt - doubled over. He did this multiple times a week.

My memere stopped this - when we moved in with her- and I was 14 years old and I told her that I was going through puberty.

My own mother told her mother to stay out of the situation and let my father parent how he saw fit.

My mother never stuck up for us. She let him abuse us.

I was a 14-year-old girl.

I didn't get corporal punishment -- at home or at school. It's barbaric, especially when inflicted upon a child.

The things our parents did to us would be considered child abuse by today's standards.

Because it is abuse.

You can't lay your hands on your children to discipline them anymore or they get taken away by a social program.

Good.

My parents were big into using the wooden spoon. And my siblings and I deserved it because we were acting a fool.

Usually hands (spanking). Rarely, but it happened, Dad's belt. Bar of soap for language was pretty common.

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countryninja13@reddit

Two stories…

Baby sitter was watching me and I was being a terror. She told me to “go get a switch.” I’m probably 12-ish. I spent the next 30 minutes finding a stick/switch that would break on the first hit. It was perfect. Or at least I thought! The “switch” broke at the peak of the backswing, and it ended up stabbing me in the butt cheek. Barely broke the skin, but it was successful. That was the last time we had that babysitter.

Got beat by a teacher in 4th grade while I was wearing parachute pants. Actually happened numerous times.

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Beneficial-You3416@reddit

Dad- the belt. It hurt. Mom- her hand but she never put much force behind it.

OneStatistician8888@reddit

i got belted on my thigh by my pops. i got hit to my hand with a wooden yard stick ruler by my first grade teacher.

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HeavyTea@reddit

Wooden spoon and a spank when Dad got home.

ThatLiberalGirl@reddit

This exactly. I never wanted mine to feel like I had to.

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Auntie_Venom@reddit

I was a pretty good kid, I was only spanked a few times and probably deserved it. Really all my dad had to do is say the “D” word (disappointed) and I’d melt into remorseful tears instantly. But he never used anything other than his hand if he did have to spank me. He’d only swat a few times, the worst was 5.

I don't know where you live, but where I live in the US, spanking is absolutely legal and common. Even straight-up physical abuse has to be way over the top and clearly criminal before CPS will act, and even then, removal is not guaranteed. Verbal and emotional abuse are also completely legal and of no interest to Child "Protective" Services.

No child "deserves" to be hit and also, it does not work to improve behavior.

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Dogzillas_Mom@reddit

Whacked with a long wooden board that dad had drilled holes in, presumably to insert dowels and make a keychain hanger. Or to make spankings more painful, not sure, you be the judge.

Also screamed at, a lot.

And one my dad backed me up against the wall by my throat and pulled his fist back. He was about to really clobber me when my stepmom stepped in between us. She was no saint either but I guess that one was a bridge too far for her.

That’s just the physical punishments. Some of the psychological ones were longer lasting and more damaging.

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FremenStilgar@reddit

My dad died in 1980 when I was 9, but in that time he used belts, switches and his bare hand on my butt, or if I twisted around, on my legs. I confess I earned everything I got in trouble for, though.

I put a potato on the tines of a fork and shook it at our kitchen window, trying to see if I could keep it on the fork. I didn't.

Then there was the time I started a fire in the kitchen floor because we had linoleum tiles that I thought were ceramic and thought they were a good place for a fire. Luckily my brother was home and put the fire out before disaster ensued.

Then there were the times I poked the screen door with a knife for no reason other than I was a little asshole. He finally caught on that it was me, warned me to quit, and when I didn't, I had to pick my own switch off the bush.

There were other times, too, but not as memorable.

My mom on the other hand, she only ever used a fly-swatter on us kids.

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aduirne@reddit

No, you didn't earn abuse. No one does.

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tranquilseafinally@reddit

Spanking with sticks. Actually, they were thicker than sticks. We'd get punished for going through the laundry basket to get something to wear. My sister could lie better than I could tell the truth, so I often got her punishment. I don't blame my sister. My mom's reactions were over the top. She used to throw my sister across the room in a fury. We would also get slapped across the face for random shit. My mom had an anger problem. We actually felt relieved if she said, "just wait till your dad gets home". He was MUCH more reasonable.

My sister and I ran a mission as youngish kids. I kept a look-out for our mom while my sister grabbed all the sticks. We ran them blocks away and threw them in a ravine.

Slaps in the face and beatings with extension cords were the worst of it. I remember the welts from the cords and the sense of injustice I felt.

I have never laid a single hand on my child.

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Illustrious-Maybe924@reddit

Super sad for all the people saying “I deserved it” here. No, you deserved better.

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Stroke_of@reddit

When I was a toddler up until I was 4 or 5, my dad used to beat my ass with a wooden paddle ball paddle. That stopped the day he broke one during a beating. If you remember, those paddles were not very rigid or durable. But that (frightened? Alerted?) my dad enough that he never struck me again. Note: I never felt physically abused or feared for my safety. I wish he had kept beating my ass because after he stopped, the psychological and verbal abuse commenced. By the time he died when I was 31, while I loved him, I didn't shed a single tear and was happy he was gone. Later, when I was raising my 3 step-kids, I found myself passing along a lot of the lessons he taught me, so it turns out he was a good father, but a pretty shitty Dad.

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trUth_b0mbs@reddit

this pretty much sums it up lol

I lived in mortal fear of my grandmother’s rice paddle. All of my cousins and I knew better than to tempt fate.

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Capable-Historian392@reddit

Dad's belt, Mom's Dr. Scholl's sandals (wood, damn things homed in on you like a SAM), teacher's rulers and slaps. Crossed the line once with my mouth with Mom, got a straight right hand fist jab to the mouth that split my lip open. She did not fuck around.

Dad and the teachers were predictable so I learned quickly what the limits with them were. Mom, not so much, I had to tread lightly. She mellowed out a lot after I got out of my rebellious stage though.

yoursweetbaboo@reddit

I got caned by the headmaster of my school when I was about five years old

Bamboo cane on the back of my legs

Turns out he caned the wrong kid but once you’ve caned someone, you can’t uncane them

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AirlineRegular1827@reddit

Had many broken spoons broke on my ass by my mom. My dad didn't need to use anything, we layed across his lap and boy could he hit hard!

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Man, I forgot about the body checks too.

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Reddiculusness@reddit

Belt at home, paddles in school . paddles ended when I started Jr. High , the belt lasted until I was 16 .

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Nervous-Rooster7760@reddit

At home it was wooden spoon or belt. Mostly the wooden spoon. I can remember going and putting all my underwear when I was told I was getting spanked with belt when I was about 11.

Once I was kicked repeatedly while crouching in stairwell up to my room because my dad you was lying about breaking something and he lost his shit. I was about 13/14 and that terrified me. I realize now that moment effectively ended our relationship and was absolutely child abuse. Turned out my younger brother actually broke it.

School we had a paddle with holes (Texas in the 80s) but I was good kid and never got close to having that used on me.

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FremenStilgar@reddit

Yep, I had a few paddling over the school years back then in Texas. Mostly excessive talking.

I still can't believe I believed the rumor that our principal had an electric paddle, lol.

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Nervous-Rooster7760@reddit

An electric paddle, lol. The shot we believed but hey we didn’t have Google to check everything !

I got a butt swat usually from my older siblings not my parents ( they generally didn’t allow my parents to to spank me but all they had to do was look at me like they were disappointed and my heart broke in two so they didn’t much need to.)

My brother did push mw down the stairs but it was more an experiment than a punishment. His favorite punishment was locking me out of the house (I’d just go play) my older sister was the enforcer.

My divorced parents didn't do much of that. Only once did I do something bad enough (a very disrespectful comment to an elderly person while effing around in their yard) that my pop made me "go choose my weapon". I picked a Hot Wheels racecar track, thinking it wouldn't hurt so much because it was bendy. After the first few licks, I think he took it easy on me in sympathy and mercy for my ignorance.

My mom had my brother and I hold a piece of paper against the wall with our noses when we effed up. The length of time depended on the transgression. If the paper fell, extra time was added on. The longest was three 8 hour days for stealing $20 out of her purse. A bad grade on a report card would get us one 8 hour stint. She was a lot sterner than my pop; I probably had about 200 hours per year on average holding those papers up when I lived with her (they traded us back and forth a couple times.)

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Antmax@reddit

At school a ruler over the knuckles, slipper on the ass (clothed). I started middle school the last year. Headmaster was Mr Sharp, who just happened to retire when the rules changed in England.

At home, mostly a wallop or three on the backside for being exceptionally careless and doing something both dangerous and stupid. My old man sent me to my room after and would come up half to an hour later and ask me what I had done wrong and why it was wrong. Then looking me un the eye, he would apologize and say it hurt him more to do it and I could see that it really did hurt him on some level. I never did the same thing again.

90% of the time, if we upset my stay at home, part time working mum. All she had to do was say was,

"Just wait till your dad gets home"

Whatever whining, or stupid fight I had gotten into with my sister went out the window. We scarpered and were very quiet for the next hour or so till my dad came home from work. I don't remember my mum actually telling him anything. When he came home, He often bought some cheap sweets like milk gums or a sherbet fountain when he got his newspaper. He'd get those out of his jacket pocket for us. We all sat at the table and ate dinner. He'd read a newspaper and watch TV after. I'd be out with my mates till dark.

- Stick/cane at school

- only a few times but remembered well: short burns on arm with hot metal spatula (no marks)

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well_well_wells@reddit

My mom would have my brothers and I kneel. We’d have to stand on our knees for a long period of time. The purpose was to inflict pain because putting that pressure on your knees eventually starts to hurt. There were times she would pull over on the side on the highway have us do it in the gravel as cars went by.

paddle with the holes drilled in it at school. I've never been diagnosed but I definitely have always had some executive function issues so it was for not doing my homework.

Belt. However, my dad didn't do it hard. It made a loud noise which is what got me.

What was worse was my mom's open handed slaps across the face

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Dyno198@reddit

I wasn't stupid. I didn't get hit I was the youngest. I watched the other two get hit. If we did something and I was with them I would be just like I was only with them I didn't do it yeah I got away with murder. Do you know how the saying goes? First born no rules? Second born the reason why we have rules. Third born no punishment. Let's try something different with this one.

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jendo7791@reddit

*wire hanger across the back because I didn't dust under the answering machine

*black eyes (multiple times) I forget the reasons

I got the belt and sometimes a hand across the bottom when I was small. By the time I was 7 or 8, it was the extension cord and that wooden Dr. Scholl's sandal. Around 12 it was open handed slaps to the face and blows to the head with random objects, that segued to closed fists. I've had my eye blacked and my lip busted. All of this was combined with removal of privileges, weeks of isolation to my room, and other forms of demeaning treatment.

Hands, spoon, belt, I think I might have been kicked a time or two.

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no_id_never@reddit

Belts, wooden spoons, open hand slaps. The cycle ended with me. It is weird/sad how I still lock in at the sound of a belt buckle when my spouse is getting dressed.

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Nice_Rope_5049@reddit

My mom was hard of hearing, so she’d slap me (never my face, like my arm or leg) and if I looked shocked, she’d ask me to repeat what I just said. Then she’d realize it wasn’t what she thought, and she’d begrudgingly say, “Oh. I’m sorry.” I don’t think she was sorry.

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EnjoyingTheRide-0606@reddit

My stepmom beat the snot out of us regularly. Mostly with her hands. But occasionally a wooden spoon, orange race track, or belt was used. There was one time she threw a glass across the room at my brother - he ducked, it shattered!

When he was 13, he got bigger than her. In an argument in which she slugged him with a closed fist, likely broke his nose, he grabbed her wrist and said, don’t hit me anymore. They were at the top of a staircase and she knew he had the ability to throw her down them. She sent out to “pull weeds on the hill” and forgot he was outside. She was making dinner when her BFF dropped by unannounced. She asked about him, my stepmom flipped out “oh no, I forgot his was outside. I sent him out to pull weeds because he’s misbehaving.” So I called him to come him. Well, he’d left the blood run down his face and all over his shirt while outside! He looked like an assault victim! Her friend jumped up, “hunny don’t fight kids at school, no wonder your mom punished you!” He said through bloody snot, she hit me. And went to shower. It was January, after dark, and raining. That friend was never seen again!

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JediKrys@reddit

Wooden spoons broken over us. Got pretty good at bracing for impact. But never turn or it’s another one used until failure. Crazy

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Honeybee71@reddit

I got my ass beat regularly

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Silly_Teacher_4847@reddit

Wooden spoon, for sure

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hand graduated to 1x4 piece of wood after I laughed that off and out grew my dad there was no more punishment for me.

I was a pretty good kid so I didn't get to much punishment in the first place. I respect my parents.

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Far-Statistician9261@reddit

Are you trying to be provocative for engagement? No child deserves physical abuse, and many Gen X healed or ended cycles of violence by parenting very differently than our parents-with communication and some compassion, or deciding not to have children at all, because free will. See how critical thinking works?

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CockroachThese@reddit

I got fists, belts, spoons. Sorry, I don’t buy in on the beat your kids to make em good bullshit. I don’t romanticize any of it.

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Ok-Lingonberry-8261@reddit

my dad: never laid a hand on me once.

my mom: would bitchslap me at the slightest provocation.

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guy_n_cognito_tu@reddit

I think I got paddled once.....maybe twice. Definitely deserved it, and don't have lifetime PTSD from it.

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FoleyV@reddit

Spankings by hanger, belt, or ping pong paddle…my mom also liked to break skin with her finger nails.