There were 9 brothers and 3 sisters in my family, mother worked at home raising us. very often dad had to work a night shift leaving her alone to fend against us the best she could. We lived in the country, had to entertain ourselves, often inciting our mother's hand of discipline.
You may recall those embroidered yardstic holders, she had one magnetized to the refridgerator. She wood have us lay over her kitchen stool and wail our asses.
We took that wooden yardstick, broke it up and burn it with the trash.
We discovered in it's place was a 4 ft steel ruler, this was very quickly spirited out of the house by us boys.
A 4 ft piece of 1/2 inch nylon rod was next.
We left that be since we recognized the pattern of escalation. ( we suspedted dad was involved in the procurement) Mom seldom had to use it. And when she did, we well deserved it
Just a funny story I thought I'd share.
LOL!
It sounds like you had good parents.
We have a 18" fiberglass rod. Very rarely used but the scare value works almost every time.
I suspect my kids will never be handcuffed for throwing a tantrum.
Sometimmes we co camping with some other families. When laying out the rules (fire pit, axes etc.)and boundaries, I always say "And for my kids, if any other adults catch you breaking these rules, they have my permission to yell at you. The other parents always chime in "me too."
I too, burned it when I was about 12 yrs. old..
My father recounted tales of freinds that were actually horse-whipped when they mis-behaved..
( he also pointed out that it was considered "extreme" punishment even for his time, but not for His Father's time..)
Here's another funny one, Hank.
Raising three boys is not an easy task. Boys will be boys. Anyway, my three boys back-talked their Mom and I told them to go out into the woods and find a stick so that I could swat them on the butt with it.
About a half hour later (giving Dad enough time to hopefully cool down, of course) we watched them coming down the trail dragging a 15' tree limb about 6" in diameter.
I couldn't keep a straight face when they presented it to me and announced that they were ready to accept their punishment. His Mom and I figured that the effort and time it took them to haul in this "timber" was sufficient payment for their disrespect. We all started laughing and had a long family talk.
They never smart-mouthed their Mom again, plus we ended up with some firewood.
Speaking of escalation and sharing funnies, you need to see post #35. :)