Was just having a discussion with my mother where she was lamenting about her student who was very spoilt.
I get her resentment of him but she thinks that the parents should slap him to have him reform. she refused to accept my argument that there are better and less archaic ways to help a child behave better than hitting them.
I then told her about how my dad belted me when I was 15 for drinking and smoking and how even at 24, when he takes off his belt after coming home from work it makes me flinch in fear.
The kicker is that I still drink and smoke so the punishment didn’t work.
If I was sat down and talked to and perhaps asked why I was doing those things as a teen (I felt like crap every day, and wanted to fit in), perhaps I wouldn’t have done those things.
My opinion is that hitting your children in any amount is mistreating them. you shouldn’t have to fear your parents I feared mine. what do you think?
Some other punishments I remember, spoonful of chili powder and not allowed to swallow; that was kinda wtf. twisting ears, spanking, slaps, hair pulling, pinching, of course the caning, sometimes metal end of belt was used….
Netizens’ comments
Yup. Caned on the palms and sometimes hit my thighs when my parents were really upset with me. My dad believed in the old ways because that was how he was raised. But he stopped by the time I entered secondary school.
He said that I can rationalize things by then and would instead try to talk to me. He used to be so stubborn and still is a disciplinarian.
There is quite a bit of years between my brother and I, and by that time, he had mellowed considerably.
The father that raised me is different personality-wise than the father that raised my brother. Age made him softer and kinder in his approach.
My mum never hit me but she certainly used the wait till your father get home and prepared the cane.
Was I traumatised by it? Nope. I understood why he did what he did and to be fair, he only used it sparingly when I crossed a certain line.
And it was bonding experience with your friends when you complained that you got the cane from your parents cause received complaint from teacher
Would I physically punish my children? Nope
Editor’s note: I was also caned mercilessly by my parents when I was a child and although I hated it at the time, I thought I needed it. They say spare the rod, spoil the child. I still grew up to me a horrible person though, so maybe they should’ve caned me harder.