SPARE THE ROD AND SPOIL THE CHILD
At the ripe old age of 72, I can relate to the accepted pattern of using a ‘switch’, a belt or a paddle for punishment of a child. For those who do not know what a ‘switch’ is, let me explain. Some trees when they sprout new limbs do so with a flexible, slender sprout You may have seen cut trees sprout new growth with this type of sprout you may have seen a weeping willow with its flexible limbs.
To add to the punishment, many times the child would be sent to find and cut a sprout. Another method would be to tell the child that he would have to wait for father to enact the punishment. Both methods extended the wait time increasing the dread of coming punishment. Of course, a father normally would have more strength and/or he might think the punishment should include more strikes with the ‘switch. At any rate, the striking of the body with the ‘switch’, at least for the boys, would be through the pant legs and at the most would only leave a welt.
I have one memory of a ‘whuppin’ with a ‘switch’ that stands out in my mind. At an age of 11 or so in the early 50’s living in a rural community, our resources to do anything for entertainment was lacking. A TV set was still in the future. Our radio was used for market reports and I don’t know if there were even any music stations. Our phone hung on a wall with a crank on the side to send a signal to the operator to direct the call. I had seen the phone operator in a room in her house, but had never used this phone. Most of our call were to neighbors and were rare.
Our little town still had a movie theater, but religious views kept our visits to a time or two a year. Our school was a one room building in the country with only a dozen students, most of which were my cousins. We attended church in an even smaller town and again, my contacts were mostly my cousins. In the summer a bookmobile visited on a regular basis. This was the only contact we had with books as our town or one room school house didn’t have a library. So when my aunt showed up one day and invited me to go with her and her son, my younger cousin, over to her house, I was thrilled. That morning progressed into midafternoon and at that time my aunt brought me home. My aunt left.
There would be no waiting for my dad to come home. The ‘switch had already been chosen and cut: ready for use. As she swung the switch’ “Stand still!” screaming at me. Trying to hold me with her left hand while she held herself far enough away to be able to swing, swing, swing that ‘switch. As hard as she could as long as she had the energy: I thought it would never end. In my mind it still goes on. Before it was all over, I knew why I was being punished. Her sister had not brought me home as soon as she had expected and she had been “worried sick”. She was really angry at her sister, but I was handy.
I can remember my brother one time commenting to me that we seemed to get a lot of punishment for a lot of little things. I have to agree but I really don’t remember most of them. They left a few welts and we went on probably feeling that we were loved (?). But I will never forget that one ‘whuppin’. For something beyond my control I had received a punishment. More so, I will never forget the anger in my mother’s face. We can be punished for things that we were not responsible for, but if our punishment is for the expression of someone’s anger, then it is wrong.
I guess this is why I don’t believe in corporal punishment for children. Many times punishment is made when the adult is angry. Even the most controlled person in anger can lose control of their force or not realize how strong they are. That is why we see children with open wounds, excessive bruising, broken bones and sometimes death.