The second style hurt more. Here, Mum would raise her hand high and bring the cane down perpendicular to the floor. The cane would come down whistling and slice through my protruding buttocks. I would flinch and grunt in pain with each impact.
The last was the most severe. In this method, similar to the previous one, Mum would raise her hand and lash the cane down swiftly on my flesh. But the swing here was at a 45-degree angle to the floor. Furthermore, the target area was the far edge of my buttock. In fact, the cane landed just below my hip and on the outer side of my thigh. These canings were always given on my right side, as Mum was right-handed.
Trust me, canings along the width of the buttocks hurt plenty, but the ones landing right below the hip, where the buttock cheek ends and the outer side of the thigh begins, are excruciatingly painful.
I lived through these canings. My mother was certainly very strict, but it helped keep me in line and mould me into the person she wanted me to be. I am a strict mother myself and use a rattan cane to discipline my son. And yes, I do cane him in all the three ways my Mum caned me.