During my schooldays I never said anything to my mother about corporal punishment , and she never asked me. I suppose she knew it existed, but she probably thought it was imposed for offences that were so serious that it wouldn’t have crossed her mind that I could ever commit them. As far as I know, my mother was unaware that I had ever had such punishments. About seven years ago I did tell her, and she was shocked – or professed to be. How much self-deception was involved there, I can only guess, but my sister says she knew very well, and was quite angry at her denials. The truth is probably somewhere in between. I think my mother just preferred not to know, that’s all, and that’s why she never asked me.

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