i grew up in the 60s and early 70s when corporal punishment was very common and very accepted. i was raised in a middle class blue collar and white collar neighborhood in the suburbs. most of the guys that i grew up with were raised with spanking of one type or another. some of us got it more than others and some of us got it harder than others and some of us got it until various ages before it stopped and some of us got it with different implements than others but the fact is that we all got it.
back then it was quite common to talk about it with friends and even compare war wounds with buddies in the gym locker room to see who had gotten it the worst the night before. it was almost like wearing a medal of valor if you had marks on your butt and we always used to joke and laugh about it when baring our butts for all to see but it was no laughing matter the night before when we were getting it!
as common as it was for me and my friends to talk about it, it was also quite as common for dads to talk about it with other dads in my neighborhood. i can remember many times overhearing many conversations between the dads on the street i lived on. i remember them congregating on the front lawn and sitting on the porch having a few beers on warm nights talking or inside the house on a saturday night in the dining room playing poker. the conversations always covered many topics but it seemed that the topic of dads punishing sons always came up at some point. my guess is because there was so much of it going on in my area that there was always a story for a dad to tell.
i can remember hearing many times things like "i had to take my belt to steve yesterday. he didnt do his chores and is getting a little too big for his britches" or "chuck is gonna get a good switching if his grades dont improve this marking period" or "david started back talking to his mother and when i got home and found out he got a good crack across the face and a mouth of ivory and a paddling he isnt going to forget" or "hey joe i hear you really gave it to jimmy good last night! what did he do?" "well mike he tried to swipe $10 out of my wallet and thought i wouldnt notice but i did and since he lied about it he got it even worse! i took my belt off and beat that kids ass good! he wont be taking any more money out of my wallet again!" "well joe i dont blame you! if my kid pulled that stunt i would beat him black and blue! who do these kids think they are? they forget we run the show in our houses! good for you! that belt is the only language these kids understand!"
a bunch of us kids used to play hookey from school a lot and if we got caught (which was frequently) we could count on getting it good. and i can remember the dads talking about how they did it to their boys and with what implements. most of us got it with a belt or razor strop and some got a hand or a hairbrush or a paddle or a switch. the dads would describe in detail how they did it and what position and what implement and how many licks and if the kids were cooperative or put up a struggle.
report card time was also a great time for us kids to compare butts the day after they came out. it the grades didnt meet the parents expectations you always knew you were going to hear a lot of yelling and crying coming from someones house! back then there was no air conditioning and windows and doors were always open and dads rarely took the time to close them when they had more important things on their minds like blistering butts!
and many times the dads would compare their sons grades with the other dads and how they dealt with it. and they would also discuss if there was other punishments involved such as grounding or mouth soaping or no allowance or corner time ect.
it was always interesting after the dads had a few beers in them. they would start to reflect back on their youth and i would hear "when i was their age if i ever did that my father would have hauled my ass out to the barn for a date with his razor strop" or "my father would have given it to me twice as hard as i gave it to him! he does not know how lucky he is!" and "these kids today dont know what a real beatin is! they should have been around to see what my old man dished out when i screwed up!" and "my dad would tan my hide until his arm was ready to fall off!"
they used to sit and laugh and joke about the whippings they got but i am sure they were not laughing too much when they were on the recieving end years earlier! and now they were all continuing the legacy of their dads with their own sons.
they used to compliment each other on techniques and implements and positions and number of licks and the end results of the punishment on their boys behinds such as color and marks and welts ect. i remember my dad told the neighbor that i had gotten a good whipping the night before and "he isnt gonna be sitting easy anytime soon with the welts he is sporting on his ass!" and i remember the neighbr smiling and congratulating him for knowing how and when to give a good beating!
when we were younger this went on all the time and it was no big deal really but a lot of us got whipped into our late teens and the older we got the more embarrassing it got not only to get it but to hear it talked about.
us kids were always getting in trouble for something growing up and we sure gave our dads plenty to talk about aside from news. sports. and weather!