I grew up in the 1980s and discipline was very simple. If I misbehaved, I would find myself across my mum’s knee, my skirt up and my knickers down for a well smacked bottom.
The most embarrassing incident happened at the school gates when I was 10 and my mum smacked my bare bottom for all my school friends, their parents and the teachers to see.
I didn’t feel the pain (and my mum smacked hard) – I was just aware that everyone was watching my bare bottom in my mother’s lap being covered with bright red handprints. When she’d smacked me about 15 times she told me: “Pull your knickers up.”
The whole place was silent, everyone watching my face as red as my bottom as my mum stood me on my feet again.