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 of rarely having my bottom smacked by my mum when I was little, and I believe I got smacked by Dad too a couple of times when I was really naughty, but after Mum’s death spankings ceased all together.
Then Dad met and married Jean, my stepmother. At the time of their meeting, Jean was deputy head at a private school in the south of England but on marrying dad she gave up her job (as women did at the time, this was the early 60s) to look after us both full time.