Kids Today Will Never Understand What It Is Like To Go Through Corporal Punishment Like We Did Back In The Day

By Missy aka Tizzy in History On 3rd March 2018
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Times have changed.

Back when I was growing up, corporal punishment was a thing that we, as kids, just dealt with. We lived in a time where you were either a good kid or a bad kid. There was not a slew of mental disorders that would explain our bad behaviors like there are nowadays. If we got out of hand, we were punished, physically, in most cases.

Uh-oh

It was especially bad if you got in trouble at school. The way you behaved away from home was considered a direct reflection of how your parents were raising you. They would be embarrassed by your behavior, and that usually made your punishment worse.

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Spankings

If we mouthed off, brought home terrible grades, misbehaved in any kind of way, chances are a spanking or "whipping" of some sort was in our near future. Spankings were not all that bad unless you had to drop your pants for it which is what happens around the time you get immune to normal spankings through your clothes.

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Anything could be used

Our parents were usually creative with what they decided to spank us with, especially if they normally end up hurting themselves when spanking by hand. You might have been swatted with a spoon, a shoe, and even an umbrella. There was no shortage in objects that could inflict pain on us.

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The belt

If you were totally immune to spankings or were really, really bad, you probably got the belt. It only took a couple of licks with a belt to straighten you right up because it definitely left behind a sting you would remember. While using something like a belt borderlines abuse, it was all in how it was wielded upon the child.

The switch

A switch or a "cherry switch" was also a common object that was used to dole out punishments. If it caught skin, you would feel that sting for hours. Most of us who were punished with the switch either remember having one hanging on the wall in your home or having to go out and pick your own switch, which was torture in itself.

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School teachers could punish you too

What some kids today might find to be very frightening is that their teachers and principals could dole out corporal punishment as well. In most common cases, teachers would use a ruler and crack the hand or knuckles of the offenders. You probably heard stories of nuns in Catholic schools doing this.

The paddle

The paddle was an even more common tool used in schools to punish students. They would get bent over a desk or a chair and have to take a few wallops. The worst kind of paddle to get punished with was one that had holes in it. That allowed the paddle to cut through the air faster causing the pain to be a lot more severe than a solid paddle dished out.

Holding up heavy objects

While this is not the kind of punishment that had the ability to leave marks, it definitely was physical. Some kids were made to hold heavy objects, like a stack of books or rocks, over their heads. They were not allowed to bring the objects down no matter how badly their arms burned. In some countries, kids performed this while kneeling in plates of dry rice which would dig into their kneecaps, leaving nasty indentations that would hurt for hours.

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Kids today...

Kids today know nothing about this kind of punishment. Somewhere in the mid-'90s, things like this became "abuse" and the state would step in if they heard of it. Parents would have their children taken away from them for abuse even if the punishment, while physical, was never out of hand to the point of leaving marks. Most of these punishments were followed up with a long talk about avoiding being spanked in the future and a reassurance that the parent still loves the child.

Yes, there were children who had horrible parents who beat them for the sake of their own twisted desires, but not all parents who used corporal punishment were abusers. Many were loving and only did what they knew as a parent because that was the way they were raised and turned out just fine because of it. But, the state had started to tell children that any form of physical punishment is abuse and your parents could go to jail and you could be sent to a home with "lots of toys and no one who will physically punish you."

The state gave children power over their parents instead of it being the other way around. We have all seen news stories of children calling the police on their parents or grandparents for threatening to spank them or actually spanking them.

The reason kids are as out of hand as they are today is because these state agencies have given them the power to outrank their parents in how they are punished. We are unable to punish our children in the only way that we know how because the state interferes. I am not condoning beating kids. That is not my point at all, but kids who grew up with corporal punishment are a lot more respectful and are more constructive in society than these kids who think they have the power and feel entitled to everything. What are your thoughts?