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Original poster

Smacking - how your parents did it?

274 replies

notalreadyinuse · 15/03/2011 21:29

[Message from MNHQ - please note, this thread was started in 2011]

I assume that most people who were young children in the 70s were smacked by their parents, but a thread today reminded me about something that has been bothering me.

My dad always pulled my pants down to smack me - until about the age of 8 I think when I think the smacking mostly stopped.

I wondered if this was "normal" then?

Namechanged for this one...

OP posts:

lookingfoxy · 15/03/2011 21:32

Yip, happened to me too, born in 75.
My dad was a bit of a thug though and it only stopped once I ran away from home aged 15!
But the pulling down pants (and threatening to smack your bare bum in front of everyone) was entirely normal as far as I know back then.

Original poster

notalreadyinuse · 15/03/2011 21:34

Relieving to know it was quite a normal cultural thing - also hugely glad we are no longer in the 70s.

I remember being loads more ashamed of having to have my pants down than the actual smacking.

OP posts:

LauraNorder · 15/03/2011 21:35

My dad never touched us but my mum used to chase us with a wooden spoon

moogalicious · 15/03/2011 21:35

Agree with lookingfoxy. Although my dad never smacked me, my mum did this.

SingingSands · 15/03/2011 21:37

Dad never laid a finger on us. Mum was of the smacking with pants down club. She did worse than smack too, beat us with her shoes, or a wooden spoon. Even with friends in the house.

LauraNorder · 15/03/2011 21:37

If she did smack us she never pulled our clothes down. Used to be a hard smack on the back of the legs.

I remember her saying how she never hit us around the head/face area, like she was almost proud of her restraint. Makes me really when I think about it sometimes, I could never talk to her about it.

lookingfoxy · 15/03/2011 21:38

My mum used to chase us with her slipper and god help us if she caught us!
She once broke a brush over my brothers back, now she is the nicest person you could meet!
My friends mum punched her, pulled her by the hair and started kicking her body/head when we were about 12 (and in a public place), now that was scary!

RancerDoo · 15/03/2011 21:39

I believe it was. The expression was "I'll count to three, and if you haven't stoppped [trying to throttle your brother/pulling your sister's hair/ climbing in the coal bunker] I'll pull your pants down and spank your bottom."

SingingSands · 15/03/2011 21:41

Me too LauraNorder. Ive never brought it up, think she would deny it ever happened. I think mum was actually quite depressed when we were kids - she wasn't maternal at all, but she's amazing with my kids and in a way this makes me really sad.

Rowgtfc72 · 15/03/2011 21:41

Born in 72.My mum used to wet her hands before slapping me on the back of the legs.The shame of it having to go into school the next day knowing everyone knew I had been badNow they'd scream child abuse.

thenightsky · 15/03/2011 21:41

My dad never laid a finger on us.

My mum did a lot of hard smacking of backs of legs. Well actually she never smacked me, only my sister. The sight of my sister being smacked was enough to make me behave.

I used to watch my sister being smacked and think 'why does she keep on doing the stuff that makes mam smack her'

I still don't understand that.

Original poster

notalreadyinuse · 15/03/2011 21:43

god rowgtfc - was that to make it hurt more? Can you imagine it nowadays...

OP posts:

LauraNorder · 15/03/2011 21:44

Singingsands My mum is brilliant with my kids now too and it makes me sad. I also think she was depressed, she had it hard when we were kids, no money, she couldn't drive, dad was away Mon - Fri etc etc

Rowgtfc72 · 15/03/2011 21:46

Had the desired effect.I wasnt smacked very often and from what I can remember always warranted !

herbietea · 15/03/2011 21:47

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

A1980 · 15/03/2011 21:47

My mum was merciless with smacking. It wasn't just once, it was repeatedly, several times on the same spot so hard that welts came up on your skin.

When I think about it, she always avoided clothed parts of the body. It was over the head, across the face or on bare arms. Now I believe you'd call it child abuse and rightly so, it was fucking terrifying to be at the hands of someone, even your own mum, who's twice your size and is slapping the living shit out of you.

She was still doing it when I was a teenager until I till gave her several slaps back. That made her stop.

ddubsgirl · 15/03/2011 21:49

yep undies down on the bum or back of the egs,mum stung more that dad did,i know my dad hit my brother with a belt once,last time i was smacked i was about 13/14 on the arm by my dad

A1980 · 15/03/2011 21:51

Herbietea that is so true. Once my mum picked something and lifted it to throw it to my brother. I was sitting next to her and only saw out of the corner of my eye her hand being raised. I flinched and put my hands over my face. It's awful for a child to expect to be hit randomly.

My mum also smacked for things when there was no fault involved and no bad behaviour to warrant it. Once leading up to a school pay a boy ripped my paper fan (I was a chinese dancer) deliberatley and laughed at me. I stormed home with it to my mum exepcting her to be furious with the boy also for ruining my property. But no she screamed at me and slapped me straight across the face for not taking greater care of it. It was a cheap paper fan from a toy shop and she belted me for that when i was 8 years old. FFS.

herbietea · 15/03/2011 21:52

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

A1980 · 15/03/2011 21:55

See my mother had none of that herbietea. Divorced but no mental health issues or depression. She was just a bitch.

ilovesprouts · 15/03/2011 21:55

we used to get the belt ,can belove one poster hit there own mum tho

Hulababy · 15/03/2011 21:57

I was brought up in the 70s. My parents didn't really smack me or my brother, nor my sister born in the early 80s. Have no recollection of it, and def never any implements, etc.

onehotmomma · 15/03/2011 22:00

I was born in the 80's and pretty much had everything cross my arse. Slipper, coathanger and wooden spoon. Literally whatever was the closest thing they could grab. It was mainly my mum who smacked us

AllDirections · 15/03/2011 22:01

Pants down, belted, slapped, hit round the head, etc. I still can't sit in a place where somebody could come up behind me so I always try to sit with my back against a wall.... and I'm 41.

A1980 · 15/03/2011 22:01

ilovesprouts can you beleive paretns hit their own children with belts "tho"?

You CANNOT constant slap, and beleive me it was constant, a 17 year old who was not badly behaved by any means. I never stayed out late, took drugs, smoked, or even had a boyfriend by that age. But smack, smack, SMAKC was mum's mum's way of dealing with me if I even looked at her in a way that dispelased her.

So one day I snapped, slapped her hard and said lets see how you like it. But oh we cant have that even though some posters paretns have used belts on them.

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