The following is a reader’s letter published in the UK women’s magazine Family Circle in 1977. My thanks go to Alan for sending me a copy – Ed. I sympathise greatly with your correspondent Claire Peters, who complained that her children were being spoiled by their grandmother. Nowadays more than ever, when many mums are going out […]

I was 10 and it was the start of the Christmas holidays. The weather was foul and I was bored because my friends weren’t able to ‘play out’ that day. My sister, then 14, was ‘in charge’, as my mum would put it. Usually I took no notice of this authority, instead just keeping out […]

I grew up in the 1950s, when Britain’s canal network was still a place of work rather than a holiday destination. A canal ran close to the back of my home and I would often play next to ‘the cut’, watching the barges go past with loads of coal, ceramics and steel. To make things […]

One summer, when I was nine, I met my friend Jesse to play at her grandparents’ summer home, near that of my grandmother. Between our two properties lay a large apple orchard belonging to the Allen family – natives of the area. Mr Allen was a boat builder and lobster man, and in fact he […]

When I was eight years old, I spent two nights at the house of my Betty, my favourite aunt. Aunt Betty didn’t have any children of her own – that was perhaps why she always made me feel like a little prince when I was under her roof. There were pancakes or omelettes at breakfast, […]

My parents never spanked me when I was growing up. They often threatened to do it – but I would change my behaviour quickly, as I had seen my sister get spanked and it looked awful! One time, when I was 12, my parents had to go out of town to visit my grandfather, who […]

The following fascinating conversation, about mothers talking about how and why they spank their children, was originally an exchange on the now-defunct Maman mailing list. Alex: It must be the spring weather or something, but I’ve been reminiscing quite a lot lately about childhood spanking experiences. Some of my very favourite experiences were hearing mothers talk […]

When I was about 12, my mum went into hospital and I went to stay with an aunt, uncle and girl cousin for a while. One Saturday morning, my uncle and cousin had gone out early. When I went to the bathroom, I saw my cousin’s bedroom door open and couldn’t resist a look inside. […]

This story happened when i was four years old, barely in pre-school. My mom fell pregnant with me two weeks after she had graduated from high school. While in high, she had a babysitter by the name of Myra. She was babysat by Myra until she was 16. They always kept in touch after she […]

I was 14 and my sister was 19. My parents went out of town for the weekend and left my sister in charge. We had a great relationship, and I looked forward to a great weekend. My sister was busy doing something so I decided that it would be a great opportunity to try one […]