Maman has received the following from a contributor named Uma, supposedly the results of a research project into the use of corporal punishment on children in India. We present it unedited and without comment regarding reliability or veracity. Role of Corporal Punishment at Home for School-going Kids in India For my Bachelor of Education project […]

Like many of my friends growing up in the early 1970s, I was spanked for misbehaviour. It wasn’t a big deal. Mom would give me a few swats on the seat for minor infractions like talking back, and put me over her knee with my jeans or shorts down if the offence was more serious. […]

My name is Andrew and this happened a long time ago. In the summer when I was 14 and my sister Diane 11, our favourite aunt and uncle rented a camp site at a nearby state park for three months. They had a fold-down tent trailer for themselves and several good-sized tents that they pitched […]

During the 1970s, the cane was quite often in use at the primary school I attended, although one had to be pretty badly behaved to warrant its attention, or that of the headmaster. Although I never received the cane myself, I learned from several other pupils who had that the routine for its application was […]

Maman special feature As a special thank-you to all our visitors, we’re now making the first part of this fascinating historical study free to view for everyone. Anyone with an interest in cookery of any sort will have heard of the renowned Mrs Beeton. You may have heard less of her husband – a publisher […]

I am from Germany, and grew up being cared for by my grandmother. She was always very loving to me – except when I did something wrong. When that happened, I only ever received one kind of punishment – a spanking on my bare bottom. This was usually administered with a cane – my grandmother […]

Although my own children were no strangers to a spanking, as I have set out in previous accounts, I must say I never expected to be called upon to warm my nephew Daniel’s bottom. Yet that was exactly what happened when Daniel was nine years old. My sister Cristina had arranged a weekend in Paris […]

I would like to tell you another story from my childhood. Last time, I mentioned that I was raised by my grandmother and she was very strict. Once a year I was allowed to go on vacation to stay with my favourite aunt. The latter never hit me, and the change in regime was always very […]

I have written before about Ingrid, the Jamaican housekeeper and nanny who was in full charge of the children’s discipline in our house, and how she spanked me with both her hand and the belt whenever I was naughty enough to have earned a whipping. As I mentioned before, she had spanked her own children in […]

One evening, when I was 11 years old, both my parents had to work late, and so I was left in the care of my sister Rebeca, who is only four years older than myself. Early in the evening, I went out for a while to play with some of my friends. Unfortunately, I lost […]