i remember one of my teachers having this two inch ish wide blackboard ruler. when you got a smack across the hand with it, the width of it made you you grip it too- ouch.

a doubled over fly pan cord was feared- definately a stinger. a tap with that was all that was needed

when i was about nine my mum was trying to hit me across the legs with something, forget what it was, anyway i just kept walking around in circles, she couldn't hit me.

we both ended up laughing. later mom and dad decided i was too old for that anymore.

by then, i was well aware of what was right and wrong.

SandS said...


In primary school ,one of the teachers did all the strapping . He had a quiver or the bloody things , leather ,leather with studs ,wide , narrow , and a foamy that didnt hurt !!

didnt do me any harm harm harm harm harm harm harm harm harm harm harm harm.

and that wasnt even a catholic school.

sounds like he 'loved' his work to much

www.abc.net.au/news/2009-08-26/to-smack-or-not-the-discipline-debate/1405468

pierrec45 said...

I have some 15 years' coaching experience, coaching 3 kid's team sports, up to recently. The stuff I would hear from the mothers in the locker-room all the time was unnnnrrreeeeaaaaal. Not saying all, but many.

"if you don't lace your shoes, we won't go to McDonalds after the game".
"if you do up your equipment, I'll take you to McDonalds after the game".
"some children in Africa are starving, eat your Mars chocolate bar".
"my parents did nothing for me, so you should be happy I enrolled you for..."
"mummy's gonna count until 3, then I'll get really angry". (typically the mother slows down after 2, goes 2-and-a-half, that sort of psychology)
"wait that your father is here..."
"you're fat, you need to lose weight, so go out and lose that fat" (from a non-slim mother)
"if you don't score 2 goals, then..." (THIS I heard from fathers as well - not rare)
"if you score 2 goals, you can come with us on our annual vacation..."
"you'd better play well, your aunt came from xx to see you score goals"
"I don't like this kid's mother, go get him hard"
"I always wanted to play those sports, so you should like it too." (sometimes fathers too)
"You owe me because I take you out to play sports."

I'd see the same going to kids school events when they were young.
It's no wonder...

So much of this is a reflection on how the parents were raised themselves. the most common theme i get from the examples above is unrealistic expectations on the children. Invariably when they fail to meet these expectations, their self esteem takes a significant hit and the damage can and does last a lifetime.
As such we shouldn't be too quick to judge because its a struggle to raise kids and sometimes we haven't learned learn the most useful or helpful strategies to negotiate around the pitfalls and frustrations of raising kids. I also think that competitive sports can bring out the worst in parents so it is no wonder there is a myriad of unhelpful parenting strategies. Parenting is largely a learned behavior and unhelpful strategies can be unlearned and new ones adopted.
Again, there is a lot of books/research etc on ways of coping with children and young adults. this stuff is out there and some of it has been very helpful for me and my little family.

the gibbo said...

You should have to have licence to have kids.

That bitch in the clip is not getting respect from that child, just scaring the **** out of it.
Long term the backlash will be huge

My dad never hit me once, didnt need to, somehow i still dont know how, i had so much respect for him just did what he asked.
My mum on the other hand did hit me once or twice, but the same thing applied.
They wouldnt scream at us(3 boys) and any threats were real not empty, lose toys, consequences for actions.

Therefore i dont hit my kids, so far.
You cant reason effectivley with kids under 3.
My advice is remove the kid from the situation, stay calm. If you lose it they are likely to mirror that at some stage.

Its bludy hard bringing up kids, massive responsibilty.

well said and some good advice there. I don't smack my 2 year old but he does understand a stern tone and timeout as a consequence of shoddy behavior. Sometimes its hard to remain calm when you are tired and he is going off. thats when timeout helps. after a while he usually calms down and is ready to rejoin the family again
As you said, its not easy and you learn on the job. Mistakes are inevitable.
Good Luck