Did all parents hit their kids in the 1970s?

[Polythene]

I often hear that this was the norm. But was it, really?

My parents did. Not a lot, and not beatings, but we did get smacked. People still got sent to the head teacher for the slipper too!

Not all parents, but most would smack kids on the arse or a ‘clip round the ear’ if they ‘played up’ (which included being silly, nagging or whining) especially younger kids, bizarrely. Mainly mums did it, though I guess they did the majority of childcare.

Some kids were really thrashed and belted, even as teenagers, but that wasn’t the norm by 1970s IME.

And teachers were physical too. One older guy threw heavy wooden blackboard rubbers at us in class (e.g. for not paying attention). He had a good aim. Girls got hit on the hand with wooden rulers and boys were caned on the arse. Vile.

My mum didn't like smacking with her hand so she used a wooden spoon or the back of a hairbrush. We never had bruises, but we did get red welts that disappeared fairly quickly. I got smaked at school with a ruler on the hand in the 80s, but my older brothers and sisters got the slipper 70s. Most schools had smacking of some sort, so yes it was "normal".

In my experience it was just done as a usual part of punishment. I was afraid of a smack, but i still chose to do things that i knew would get a smack, so it can't have been that bad. I was never in fear of any of the people who smacked me either, it was just accepted that they had to do it (if that makes sense). It wasn't done with sadism or real intent to create fear in my world.. but some people were obviously not so lucky and were beaten, so i don't want my experience to undermine their reality. I'm not conflating smacking and beating - which i don't think was "normal" in the 70s, but it wasn't unusual sadly.

No.

One of my earliest memories is my mum chasing me up the stairs, slapping the backs of my legs. She'd found me colouring in the anaglypta wallpaper in the hall with crayons. I was not quite 4 at the time.

I remember being horrified watching my primary 5 teacher giving a boy the belt, he wasn't even a boy in my class, another teacher sent him to my teacher to do the deed. Bloody arseholes hitting primary school kids.

I was regularly hit with all manner of implements and hated my parents for what they did. I still feel traumatised by events in my childhood and resent the fact that teachers and other people knew what was happening and did f--k all. People now saying it was normal then doesn't make it right. I wanted to be taken away from my parents and saw going into care as being a better option. I wish childline had existed then.

Yes. I wasn’t because I was good. But my brother was a right little sod. I remember my mum chasing him round the garden trying to hit him with a slipper.
my Nan used to hit us with the back of a wooden spoon for the least transgression. Eg poor table manners - and she was quick with it!
Didnt do us any harm at all. My brothers and I are respectable members of society. Polite and respectful.

What was a "clip round the ear"? I hear this phrase and it sounds vaguely like a a ticket inspector going for your ear lobe with that hole-punchy device.

I can't imagine that in reality it was anything very different from being slapped on the head?

Imagine being known as the teacher who was good at belting the children.

Born late ‘70’s. I was not physically punished as my mother was absolutely anti- smacking but it was very common for my peers to get a walloping. Slapped legs, clip around the ear etc. worse in some cases I expect.

I got hit by a teacher in 1990.

80s for me but yes, I got hit (occasionally) and so did all my friends. Boys got hit a lot more than girls though.

I don’t think i had a single class mate who wasn’t smacked. It was normal parenting in the 70s and 80s. Princess Diana occasionally smacked her boys.

90's, me and my brother used to get smacked on the bum/thighs occasionally. We were right little shits though and most of the time thought it was funny.

A family friend we used to holiday with (caravan holidays) every year regularly hit her sons with a wooden spoon. One year she chased one of them round the caravan and hit him so hard with it that it snapped in half.

I can remember my brothes being smacked once or twice but never remember getting smacked myself. We were all born in early 70s

Yes of course.

I was well behaved, so only got smacked twice and I deserved it. Siblings more often. I remember my friends parents, telling them off for being in trouble at school, caned at school, hit at home later. It was the times.

I don’t condone the extreme violence, but there are no deterrents now and I’m not sure it’s a good thing. The fear of being hit, was worse than the short sharp tap, that I received.

My dc friend wouldn’t feed her dcs dinner if they’d been naughty, I think that’s worse than a quick smack. Another would have punishments if they asked for seconds. I don’t think that’s great either.

Which must have been kind of late 80's at least ... I think Harry is DOB 1984.

I was born in the 1950s and my parents definitely didn't hit us. They were actively opposed to it.

None of us hit our children when we had them, either. It just never happened. Mine were born in the 1980s. Never were hit.

Born in 81, hit a lot by mum and rarely by dad. Lots of violence within families on our street too. Grim fucking times.

I was born mid 70s and remember being smacked twice. Threatened with it far more
often, which frightened me. Kids at my school seemed to be smacked (‘belted’ as one 8 year old said to me in 1983-84). Boys were caned at my primary school (aged 7-8)

It was normal. It was talked about almost with a sense of pride by some kids (implying “look how bad I am”) and by some parents (implying “look how strict i am!”)

In this at least, the world has changed out of all recognition.

I never got hit, shouted at or guilt tripped by my parents ever. I occasionally got mildly moaned at but that was very rare. I was a happy and well behaved child and teen which probably helped. My Mum is in her late 80s and she is still as kind and loving as ever.

I’ve obviously never hit my kids but I did very occasionally told them off. I’ve never lost my temper at them or guilt tripped them. They are adults now and I’m as close to them as I am to my Mum.

Hitting a child is never acceptable.

1960s here, never smacked, nor did my school punish any child that way. I was pretty well-behaved though and I think had I been a naughty child I would have been smacked as a last resort.

Born 1962. I don't ever remember being smacked. My parents expected good behaviour and DM could give a good telling off, but they were not in to physical punishment. I think they had both been hit by their fathers growing up and didn't think it did any good at all.

I don't remember corporal punishment being used at primary school but the possibility certainly existed at secondary. The cane was used but only rarely I think. When it was used it was across the hand. Only the headmaster gave the cane, unless the miscreant was female (rare) in which case the senior mistress did it.

Hmm. You might think it's funny to make fun, but did you live through the 70s as a child?

I am a child of the 1970s, was never ever hit