I Should Be Dead, LOL

[MasterBlaster]

My Mom never was the disciplinarian, always my pops.

 

[Cobleskill]

I got some knee jerkin too. I figured it evened out, for what I never got caught for. I made myself never to punish my kids as a knee jerk.

 

[gf beranek]

Mothers had a way of making the men do all the punishing. I recall.

 

[woodworkingboy]

I recall my mother was taking my brother and i someplace in the car, the two of us were in the back seat fighting as usual. While she was driving along she suddenly shouted out, "I have had enough of you damn kids!", and she just started flailing her right arm into the back seat trying to hit us, kind of an exasperated uncontrolled very wild flailing. While doing it she was still trying to pay attention to the road and kept driving. It seemed more funny than anything else. Mom was pretty stressed, kids can be hard on parents. I also remember that we were driving through some California orange groves at the time, so some history there too.

 

[RopeArmour]

I grew up in a family of seven and misbehavin would be some of the only attention you get at times.
Mama and papa were old country Portuguese. I remember getting my ears pulled more than anything, wooden spoons were laughable.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I can't see how wooden spoons would do anything, unless on the knuckles. I remember a teacher in the 5th grade who'd use a ruler to do that.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Mouthful of soap for mouthing off and sometimes a slap.
My mom was more the reactionary one. I remember the last time she tried to whoop me and I stopped her. She came at me with one of those wooden clogs from the 70s. I stopped her hand in mid whack by grabbing her wrist and sternly told her "oh no you don't, not ever again!". My dad aways gave me what I deserved calmly and with stern words. Only remember him actually losing it once and only raising his voice a few times.

 

[gf beranek]

The day I stopped my mother from slapping me she told me the same thing. Then said, "Time for you to join the service young man." Changed my life forever.

Boot-camp was a lot easier than living at home.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

I wanted in the Navy and was turned down 'cause my asthma

 

[MasterBlaster]

My dad wised up and stopped whupping us. Instead, the punishment would be some kind of extra chore. Scrubbing baseboards was one of his favs. I'd rather take an asswhupping and just get it over!

 

[gf beranek]

I failed my physical at the induction center because of too much albumin in my urine. I was bummed, and went back for a second test and passed. I was happy.

Next stop, Viet Nam. Just turned 17 years. The Army liked kids, like me.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I wanted in the Navy and was turned down 'cause my asthma

When I was in, I wanted to be on a SEAL team, but was turned down because of my eyesight. To this day I wonder how different my life would have been had they accepted me.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Chores, grounding.... Those were preliminary to me escalating the situation. Or my little sister escalating the situation by blaming me for something she did...

 

[MasterBlaster]

Oh, and they retired my ship (Enterprise) yesterday. Off to the scrape yard with it. I sure was hoping to maybe see it again, one last time.

 

[gf beranek]

All in all the service was damn good for me. Though at the time I hated it about as much as being at home. Figure that.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Same here. Youth is wasted on the young!

 

[gf beranek]

I grew up in the service. When I came home I was embarrassed to hang out with my old school chums. they still acted like kids.

That's when I realized I had changed, and they, did not.

 

[MasterBlaster]

At the very least, it will teach you how to wake up in the morning and be on time for work.

 

[gf beranek]

Oh yeah!

 

[JoshINtrees]

I even got spanked as a kid and managed to not turn into a serial killer.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

There ya go.
It's more like when they start locking you up in a closet you have to worry as I understand it.

 

[Stumper]

I got my swats on the diaper early and learned that "NO!" meant NO!. I only got a few switchings later (and yes I had to cut my own switch) Funny, the only one I actually remember was one I didn't deserve. The others all taught their lesson and faded away without any traumatic long term effect.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I've cut a switch or two, myself! Ha.

 

[JoshINtrees]

And lord help you if you tried the book in the pants stunt or cut a whimpy switch look out.

 

[woodworkingboy]

Mom would use the, "Wait until I tell your father when he gets home", deal. Sometimes she would forget or felt compassion maybe, which was a great relief. He came home tired and irritable as a rule anyway. One time I was already in bed, but I had an inkling that she wasn't going to forget that day. I heard him come in and had my face turned towards the wall, pretending to be asleep. He didn't say anything, simply walked up and slapped me hard across the face and walked out. I don't believe he even turned on the light, used a little glow from the hall to pinpoint his target. Kind of got me in the ear too, so that it rang for awhile. I hope he had a nice evening after relieving all his stress, but If I had a shotgun, I might have gone into the kitchen where he would be sitting over his Schlitz, and blown his head off. I guess I could have taken mom too. They didn't put children away for long in those days, and I wasn't a bad kid.