We would get the ruler to the butt, when we got older we might get a backhand from dad with his world series ring, it would leave an NY in your cheek.
Don't ever sass mom!
I gotta tell ya, Zap, the World Series NY imprint on the cheek has about as much cachet to it as any physical punishment I can imagine.
I got a belt from time to time, and the warning of the belt about once a month (and I was a pretty good kid). I lived a bit in fear of my father, but he was a great father in a number of other important respects.
My two kids got a spank a couple of times when they were little, and then I said to myself, "What the hell are you doing?" and it ended.
We're all a product of our environments to a degree. The only clear model of parenting we have is from our parents. I always had trouble understanding why my Dad was (in my eyes) pretty harsh with us.
The nicest thing my Dad ever said to me was when he was visiting us and my boy Ben was about 8. While goofing around, he crashed into my stereo setup sending things flying. I yelled out, "Benjamin!" He turned around to see what level of trouble he was in, but I just started tickling him. There was no evil intent, just being clumsy. I said, "Help me get this back together and watch where you are running." We all three laughed over it. After Ben went off for other adventures, my Dad turned to me and said, "I wish you had been my Dad."
Brought a lot of things into focus for me. If you're a young parent, discipline is good. But you don't need to hit your kids and you'll regret every time you did. What you need to do is work really hard at being a parent. Reinforce good behaviour, explain bad behaviour, reward a lot, punish a little when necessary.
The goal is not to have the best behaved kids all the time for public presentation; the goal is to have adult kids who are well-adjusted and look back on their childhoods as a wonderful time.
