The following is a letter published in the New York Times Magazine of April 22, 1945. Parent and Child To the Editor: I wish to raise my voice in protest against the unbelievably naive attempts made to solve the so-called juvenile delinquency problem. For those parents who are not lost beyond hope in “modern” theories […]

Growing up in the Midwest, my sister and I were raised by a strict but loving mother. When I was very young, spankings tended to be quick – a few smacks over the skirt – but as I got older, they became more ritualised. When my behaviour warranted punishment, Mom would inform me that I […]

As a child growing up in the 70s, I was spanked by my mother and my baby-sitters. I grew up in a small beach town. One day, when I was 10, my mom caught me on the beach with fire crackers. She immediately led me by the arm back to our house – I knew […]

I grew up in the late 1960s, when spanking was very common. I have a brother and sister who are both older than I am, and my father was always the one to administer the spankings. On one occasion, my father had to leave on a business trip and would not be home for the […]

There was one time that I received a spanking for something I didn’t do. I was 10 at the time. I was in my room, reading, when my mother came in my room to drop off my laundry. I told her that I wished that she had knocked before she came into my room because […]

I had been dating my boyfriend Matt for over a year. We didn’t talk much about the discipline in our homes, but I had some idea of how Matt’s parents handled disobedience. Although Matt rarely mentioned the subject, I knew his father had taken a belt to him on a few occasions when he was […]

My parents never spanked me until I was three years old, and what a memorable spanking that was! After that, there was no more babying for me: I was spanked – and spanked thoroughly – for every misdeed. Don’t get me wrong; my parents weren’t spankaholics, we always got warned first, and we never got […]