Wait until your father gets home

My dad told me that my mum had only said this once to my oldest sister. She did tell dad and he just asked if the child remembered why she was waiting for him to get home, she was only about 5 and obviously forgot what she'd done wrong long before dad got in. My dad did not want to be seen as an 'ogre', his name not mine, to his children. I never had a fear of anyone smacking me as, being the last of five and very quiet they knew all the ways of dealing with children without smacking. My dad did smack me once, more of a tap than a smack, but that was for telling lies. He hated liars and used to say you could lock things away from a thief but there was no protection from a liar. I do remember my mum, who was about 5'5'' saying to my 6' 3'' brother that he wasn't too big to go over her knee. I must have been about 7 and he was 17, as I always had a vivid imagination I tried to imagine this happening but it was beyond me.

I don't remember being punished at home - but I had a whack across the knuckles with a teacher's ruler once for eating in class! (Last time I did THAT ...) I do think we are too soft these days. Students certainly aren't frightened of being given a demerit at school, whereas the lads of my generation lived in fear of being sent to the headmaster's office for six of the best! A little fear is a good thing, and I don't remember classes being out of control the way they are now. In Australia, parents can be charged with assault for smacking their children - and children are made aware of their 'rights' from a very early age. It's a sad state of affairs.

My Mom never hesitated to discipline us when we misbehaved. The problem in saying wait until your Dad gets home is that the child than associates Dad with punishment. I don't think that should ever be said. When a child does something wrong than it should be dealt with right then and there. And I do believe that which ever parent happens to be there at the time should be the one that should take care of the problem.

My mom was one of those "wait until your father gets home" mothers - so we'd be dreading all day when she told Dad what we'd done and wondering what our punishment would be. Often, however, I found that if I could meet Dad at the gate before he came into the house and told him myself what I'd done that he'd go a lot easier on me than if I waited for Mom to tell him. if we were spanked, it was only with a hand and never a strap. As we got older, our punishment was a lecture from our Dad - sometimes you'd rather they'd had spanked you!

pikefish hi I was never spanked with strap or spoon, just got the eye from my mom and the frown from my dad. Just one look from my mom was all it took. My knees shook, and I knew I had better shape up or else. My mom had a way of making her eyes look huge and scary, and I inherited'that from her. I would give my son the evil eye, and he quit what he was doing and shaped up. My father's frown was also one thatI did not want to encounter as my dad would often threathen to take his razor strap to me, but he never did. I dont know if we are too soft on our kids now days or if'if 'its more that a lot of kids aren't even raised by parents'but by their nannies or baby sitters and thats not a good source of discipline at all.I do think that a lot of teens here in the uS are growing up with no respect for themwselves or others. I am elderly and use a cane, and have come close to being knocked down by the youth here in our apt.complex that zoon past on skate boards.

My Father was a Greek man who was hit alot by his father and so thats all he knew..my Sisters and i were hit alot and yelled almost everyday..we hated the time we knew he'd be coming home not knowing who would get it and we were real little angels..I became a teen and took it upon myself to be rebellious thinking if i'm going to be acccused of something i might as well be bad..we all moved out as soon as we were of age to get away..I was the 4th daughter..but my younger brother and sister were raised differently..they were spoiled and given whatever they wanted..us 4 older ones are strong and mature and doing fine..the younger 2 are never there for my Mom and still spoiled and selfish... this showed me that children need discipline..I wouldn't say a belt or switch, but some kind of punishment to help them later in life..to grow up and be strong..Mommy and daddy aren't always going to be there. So for all my 5 children...i'd give them a look and orders that my list of things had to be done before I came home from work or no tv..didn't have much else back then..lol..I didn't care if they waited till 15 min. before i came home as long as the chores were done and they usually always were.One time the vacummn almost burned the house down but thats about it..lol..funny now but back then..nope!

Oh, yes, my Mum was a crocodile, they used to whip me with their scaly tails until I fell to the ground, then they'd make me dig a hole, bury me in it...........dig me up three days later, then send me down the mine to work. :( (ok, that's not actually true) Smacking doesn't work, I was smacked, it just made me have a really hard bum, my Dad did the smacking, my Mum didn't have to smack, she said it all with a 'Mum look', you know what I mean, I'm sure you've seen it yourself too. I use the same kind of look with my son, it almost always works you know.

Before I was old enough, Dad used a boat oar. But that broke on my brothers butt. Then we got the belt or hand. Yes I do think that a lot of people are too soft on kids. I have spanked my daughter. I believe the punishment should fit the crime. I spanked her when she was younger, but very rarely. I used my hand only. I don't think you should spank to hurt but to get their attention. But.... I would not step in on other parents unless they were actually abusing their child. I think this is something that is up to parents.

My mother only ever hit me twice growing up. I don't know if i feared her as much as wanted her approval. she was no one to play with i will say that. my brother was the one who got my spankings then i did. i think at times we are to soft on our children. i am not saying that we need to beat them. but when saying go to your room to your child which means watch tv, play video games, and use the computer is a punishment, then we got problems!!

Hi! I got the same treatment. The wooden spoon! After a while it did not really hurt anymore.LOL! What really hurt is why I was being punished, most of the times I don't even know why. And when I tell my parents know, they don't remember ever hitting me, especially not with a wooden spoon! But, I remember clearly. Especially that one time my Dad was hitting me. The spoon broke!!!Hahahaha! I started laughing, and that made him even more angry. Then he hit me with his bare hand. HEY!!!! THAT HURT!!!! I don't believe that kind of punishment is good. Because I did not realize, most of the time, what I had done wrong. It is better to talk to your children. If they still don't want to understand, send them to there room to think about it. When they are ready to talk, let them! Yes, some of us are or have been to soft. This does not help the child either, you need to stay in the middle and remember every child is different. Take care, Margajoe.

I think many parents these days are too soft on their kids, especially as they grow into teenagers. My parents were tough. I think I was 16 and still going to bed at 9:30 PM. If I disobeyed my dad would use his thick 70's leather belt. That sucker hurt. I don't use anything like that on my own kids but they do get a spank if they deserve one.

Oh do I remember the words 'wait til your father gets home' and that always put a fright up me cos he would always tell me off if I had done something wrong but never did he raise his hand to me..his words were enough then my parents divorced it was a different situation..my sisters and I always received the strap/belt if we did something wrong or back-chatted either my mum or step-father it also went for being late home after school or our curfew time to be in..all of us were scared of him but he did one good thing and that was to teach us respect for our elders Yes nowadays chiildren are treated like puppies they have no discipline in their lives no respect either for themselves let alone others,all they know is to hurl abuse at people aggravate them and violence-children nowadays need the disciline in their lives that we once had-bright blessings littleowl

I grew up with my grandparents, and you didn't want to make grandma mad at you, she could just give you that look and you knew you better straighten up or she's gonna get you, believe me she would get you with whatever was closest to her..lol. My grandpa didn't do a whole lot of disciplining, but if he had to he would. It was mostly left up to her, and she didn't have to get us too often, I learned my lesson after a few times. My sister on the other hand was always getting in trouble then she would try to get me in trouble..lol. I think we're too soft on our kids these days, I know alot of people would disagree. It just depends on how you were raised, if you were spanked when you were young, then you wouldn't think theres anything wrong with it. If you weren't, those are the ones who are against it mostly. I got spanked when I was little, and I don't think I turned out bad, I've never smoked or drank in my whole life, always done what I was supposed to do.

same with me, my dad never touched us. my mom would give me spankings. she used her hand and it was powerful.

My parents were hard on us ( me and my brother) since our childhood. We always lived in constant fear.. Well I don't really regret it all as sometimes I admit that in some things I did need a little slap to get in my senses and move to the what is right. But that wasn't needed every time.. Well that is something past.. My parents specially papa(father) is still like that. He has a dominating nature and well when people get old its not easy in fact its really hard to change there personality and their thinking!! So rather I have decided to better live with it till I get a nice job and move out of this home to get some freedom in life. I won't say that my story is a sad one but yeah it wasn't a good one either..

Well my mother was not the disciplinarian in our home back then. it was always with my father that I usually get the spanking as that was his way of disciplining us back then. I don't agree with his method but I grew up to be relatively behave boy because of that. When I have my son I decided not to do it at him. My son is able to express himself but we never allow him to overpower us. He does not receive any physical punishment because I do not believe in it.

i know i am too soft on my daughters these days and with all the talk about the corporal punishment harming a child and anyone and everyone ready to call the authorities on anyone that does pretty much anything to a child...its no wonder!

I didn't receive a LOT of physical punishment as a child. I think I was spanked my father once when I was little. Apparently it was enough to make me scared of him for the rest of my life. I don't know if I would have been scared of him anyway or not. I remember one specific time when my mother slapped my face. I was a teenager and I probably deserved it. If there were other times, I don't remember them, so if anything happened it probably wasn't majorly traumatic. I do remember my mother chasing my brother around a lot with either a belt or, believe it or not, a knife (probably just once). My brother used to taunt her. He was a handfull, I guess. To answer your question "Are we too soft on our own these days". I truly don't know. In many ways I have actually been harder on my kids than my parents were on me. For some reason, other than those couple of incidents that I mentioned, I really wasn't a trouble maker and didn't give my parents a lot of problems. I have 3 siblings and alltoghether I'm sure we gave them their share of headaches. I thought I would "learn from my parents mistakes" and be a better parent. I can't say that it turned out that way. My kids present me with new challenges every day.

My father was never to interested in being a parent. My mother administered discipline. Though I never got hit with anything. I got slapped once when I was 17. And I deserved it. The only thing I feared was something happening to my mom.

I don't think my mother ever spanked me or any of my siblings. She certainly didn't threaten us with, "wait until your father gets home" either. Mostly, she would tell us to go to our rooms to think about what we had done. When we were older, she would take away priviledges. Dad didn't spank us either...'cause my mother wouldn't let him. His hands and arms were so strong - from his job as a sheet metal mechanic - that my mother was afraid he would hurt us.