Mom’s patience is probably best shown by the fact that she did not beat me bloody when she did spank me; God knows I tried her patience and love enough. I was summoned to the vanity bench and I shuffled over with pants and undies bunched around my knees. I bent over and gripped each side of the vanity, putting my butt out at a 90-degree angle. The vanity had a large oval mirror attached to it, and it was incredibly embarrassing to look up and see yourself exposed and Mom standing behind you ready to strap your bare bum. It was the day after Halloween. I was happy with my loot and trying mom’s patience with my pouting, whining, and general nagging her to let me have more of the candy from the night before than I needed. She’d set the limit and this I knew, but I was a self-centred kid to the end (usually, literally, my end).

Mothers – Maman: spanking memories: mothers, fathers Mothers – Maman: spanking memories: mothers, fathers

Mom was a big believer in household chores as a way to build responsibility and have us contribute to the household. Cleaning up the kitchen after dinner had been one of my assignments since I was 12. My sister was added to that rotation when she reached 12 and for the better part of the year, we had been sharing the duties.They spanked to punish, and therefore it was painful, but also to teach lessons: that they loved and cared enough about me to take time to spank; that the world had rules, limits and penalties for breaking those rules. Responsibility for actions and the idea of having a duty; them as parents and me as a growing-up boy. When I was called for dinner, I had to go in just a T-shirt and my diapers, which was embarrassing, but also told my dad I’d messed up. It really hurt to have to tell my parents I was a liar or thief, but then I had done the behaviour. My butt really stung. I lay on my stomach and rubbed the fire out while thinking about how embarrassed I was going to be at Mrs Miller’s – I really liked her and she was always really nice to all us kids.

Lying over her knee – Maman: spanking memories: mothers Lying over her knee – Maman: spanking memories: mothers

Boy, was I going to get Steve for getting me in trouble! (Ah, the thought process of a nine year old!) Needless to say, I beat Steve up after mom and I’d gone to Mrs Miller’s for me to say how sorry I was. It wasn’t bad enough that I beat Steve up, for saving his own behind because he’d been accused of the crime first, but when his mother called mine, I lied to her again. Much rarer was more than one of us getting spanked at the same time. The age gap between us was enough that we had our own circle of friends and didn’t really hang around together enough to get into trouble together.I gave my parents many a reason to whip me good, yet neither ever bruised me or caused me to be hurting for days, even at times when I was spanked a couple of times in one day, as in this next memory I shall recount; nor when I was spanked on consecutive days, as happened on many occasions. I was called into the house, confronted with my misdeed and denied it right to mom’s face. What was really dumb was there were many witnesses, including my own sisters. Mom’s face got really red and her mouth barely opened as she told me to go to my room and get my clothes off – all of them.