My parents were the greatest. They treated my sisters and I with love and tenderness. We had a wonderful life and all have gone on to be success stories in later life.
My friend Sarah and I were at our cottage with my Mother one summer week. My Father was working and it was what we did for most of the summer, with him visiting us on weekends.
We had three rules at the cottage. 1) We were not allowed to go swimming without permission; 2) We could not leave the property without permission, and 3) We were not allowed on the roof. I add this as our roof was easy to climb up on, because of a low garage and an old TV antenna mast.
My Mother took my two sisters with her to the market and left my friend and I on the promise we would stay out of the water and out of trouble. We promised, of course, to be good and watched them disappear up the driveway and into town.
Well, after a boring half hour we talked each other into climbing on the roof to see the view and – well, just to be naughty and enjoy the risk. I told my friend if we got caught we would get in big trouble but at this time in our lives, we believed we were invincible.
So up we went onto the roof and enjoyed the thrill of disobeying – and the view, of course. We stayed there for a while and then decided we should get down before Mother got home. We were – at least that’s what we thought – successful.
When my Mother came home, she acted perfectly normally and called us to help unload groceries etc. She never said a word.
After about a half hour or so, as we were swimming, she called us to the big bedroom off the beach and asked us if we had anything to tell her. Of course, we said ‘no’.
She looked directly at me and asked if we were naughty when she was gone. I said: “No way, Mother, we didn’t do anything – we didn’t go swimming or anything.” Then she asked Sarah and she also lied perfectly like I had.
Well, that should have been the end of the story – but it wasn’t. My Mother looked at me and then said, as I died a million deaths: “Well, who were those two on our roof when I was gone, then? Mrs Dalrymple told me she saw two younger ones on our roof.”
Oh, how I hated that neighbour now and I knew we were dead! As we both looked at each other, Sarah started to whimper a bit. I thought she was a suck but decided lying any more was useless. We had been caught.
My Mother did the usual lecture thing about how dangerous it was and how disappointed she was with us. Then the bomb. “you have both disobeyed and lied about what you did today, and I think I am going to have to smacks bottoms and hopefully you will learn from this experience.” She told us to wait in the room and that she would be back in a few minutes.
When she left, Sarah and I were in tears and talked about what was going to happen. I told Sarah that my Mother didn’t spank us very often (it had been a long time since I last got spanked) but when she did, it hurt a lot. We were both so scared. Sarah told me she sometimes got a spanking at home but she had never had one from anyone else but her Mother or Father before, so she was even more scared than me.
My Mother soon came back, shut the door to the room and walked over and pulled the curtains closed. In her hand was the dreaded wooden spoon she used on us every time.
Well, the begging started, the pleas of forgiveness and how sorry we were but my Mother didn’t say anything. She just sat down and called us both to her sides. She told us that she was sorry for having to punish us but that it would be a life lesson for both of us.
She then asked Sarah if she would like to be first or second. Sarah cried and said to punish me first. My Mother said ‘fine’ and sent Sarah to stand about 5ft away. My mother then looked me right in the eye and asked if I was ready. I was crying but I knew to say yes.
I was mortified. I was going to get a spanking at this age. I don’t remember much else, except that I was soon staring at the floor, and then that big spoon cracked down on one of my cheeks. I howled but couldn’t move as my mother gave me a dozen or so whacks all over my bottom and the top of my thighs . It seemed like forever but it was finally over and I knew it was the worst spanking I ever had had.
Then it was Sarah’s turn. She howled as she was put over my mother’s knee. She got the same dose as I did – then it was over. My mother told us to sit on the bed till she came back, and left.
It was the most humiliating 10 minutes of my life. Sarah and I just kept crying and looking at each other, both of us wanting to crawl into a hole.
When my mother finally came back, she asked if we had learned anything and we both explained quickly that we would never lie or disobey her again. She looked at us as if we were lying again – then told us both to go out and play and swim.
My mother never told my dad or Sarah’s parents about what happened and in fact she never mentioned it again. I know that us two got a lesson in parental discipline that afternoon that to this day I have not forgotten, and to be honest I don’t think I ever lied to my parents again.
Sarah and I were very, very good for the rest of the week and had a great time together. She told me that she would love to come back to our cottage any time, which she did on many more occasions.