First, THANK YOU! My wife and I worked hard through over nine years in the Marine Corps, seven years traveling for IT work, and another seven years of traveling in construction safety...and our girls appreciated our efforts as well.
Our only other rule was pretty straightforward. I absolutely loathe liars. So, I told my girls if you mess up, fess up, but do NOT lie about it.
Sooner or later I will get the truth and there will be corporal punishment for any lies told - PERIOD. If you are honest with me, there may be punishment (i.e., extra chores, grounding, no phone/TV privileges, etc.), but no physical punishment.
And like your mother, my mother was a “tree switch” type person and my dad was a 7-loop-clearing, leather belt-wielding person! Both had the rule, I will give you all licks, to ensure the right one got whooped...that always bothered me. So I swore I would only use my hand to give spankings, that way I couldn’t go overboard (my own hand couldn’t take it after a while - LOL)! And, if we were not sure who was the culprit, we didn’t punish anyone. I would rather no one get punished than the WRONG person get punished.
Believe it or not, My wife and I discussed these things extensively when we were in high school (we are high school sweethearts)...how we would raise kids if we ever had them. We both had traumatic experiences with our own parents. I was determined to NOT be THAT person. Heck, I even apologized to my kids when I found out I was wrong...I know neither of my parents ever apologized...my dad used to say, “That was for the next thing you do, that I don’t catch you doing”!
What’s funny is that we and our kids are extremely close and are actually “friends” now they are grown. And they do not have an issue with us disciplining or admonishing any of our ten grandkids.
Excellent. A true conservative takes the best from the past and discards the parts that do not enhance the mission, as you did with your carefully-teamed approach, adequate warnings, and restraints on yourself. Well done!