I don't believe in sparing the rod. But it should be a last resort, not first.
Sometimes I had to get my own switches. Sometimes my mother got them. When she got them, she would swat herself on the wrist with it first and then say "Oooh that stings. Midwestdiva
, you better straighten up". That used to piss me off!
When I was a kid, I used to go to Oklahoma during the summer. I had an aunt that would take my cousins and me to the family church. We had to sit on the front pew with her, so she could keep an eye on us. Every Sunday she brought a switch with her and kept it on her lap. She called it Johnny Pepper
. If we started talking or playing she would point it at us, and if we kept it up we'd get a swat.
We laugh about this now that we're grown, but it wasn't funny back then.
Oh yeah, I tried that belt hiding mess too. It didn't take long for my mother to catch on. She gave me an ultimatum, either you can bring me the belt, or I can get an extension cord. I chose to find the belt.
My children aren't going to go through all this, because they're going to be little angels.
