Mother took me by the hand and led me to my parents’ bedroom. My new mum had brought several pieces of her own furniture with her when she moved in and among these was a chaise longue, which had been placed in the bedroom. Mother placed me at the lower end of this, then went […]

I naturally got the third degree about where I had been, and I admit I was insolent in my responses. Dad looked very uncomfortable at this whole scene. “Well, Joy,” Mother concluded, “I think enough is enough. It’s high time you had a little discipline put back in your life, and as soon as you […]

For the first three months of her moving in, I think Jean went quite easy with me, again knowing what I had been through. However, there was a distinct air of discipline in the house for the first time, and I was told to call her ‘mother’. My new stepmum laid down new rules about […]

My birth mother died when I was just six years old, and for the next three years it was just me and Dad. Because we had both been through a lot, I guess it’s true to say that he indulged me a lot more than I would have normally been. I have (very vague) memories […]

  I used to press my face into the bedspread, trying to keep from crying and calling out whilst the slippering was administered. I can well remember how each successive whack would sting more and more, whilst the burning of my bottom grew to an almost unbearable level. Afterwards, she would leave me, lying on […]

  When my mother tanned me with ‘the slipper’, it was actually an old, large tennis shoe of my father’s, with a thick rubber sole, kept for the purpose in my wardrobe. She always used her full weight, with the strength of her tennis-trained arm, in applying each stroke. Each was given as hard as […]

Having been informed that my fate was to get a ‘severe dose of the slipper’, ‘a whacking’ or ‘my bottom tanned’ (she used the terms interchangeably), she would never punish me immediately but tell me when she would administer it, leaving a good while for me to meditate. Typically, like a school, she would tend […]

  Because I was only beaten when I was thoroughly in trouble, for something for which I needed a salutary lesson, her punishments were not lightly administered. I viewed them with considerable trepidation and they weren’t easily forgotten. However, I would say that on every single occasion that I was beaten, the punishment was fully […]

Following age-old custom, if my actions deserved it, I would be chastised. This was always administered in a traditional manner and on the usual place – with comprehensive ritual and formality, I was given a sore bottom. ‘Getting my bottom tanned’ or receiving a ‘smacked bottom’ were not common experiences, but neither were they that […]

Now to be more specific about my own experiences. I was an only child in a middle-class family. My parents weren’t particularly strict but believed in a firm set of principles of behaviour. I didn’t have any trouble with this, being generally in agreement and (I think) reasonably well behaved. But if I did transgress […]