It was the first day of the Christmas holiday, 1998. Jim and his mother, Helen, and her boyfriend, Jack, and his two sons, age 15 and 16, were together in the den of Jim's home. Jack was 45, ten years older than Helen. They had been going together for some time. Despite his busy schedule at the office and the hospital (Jack was a physician), Jack was very attentive to Mom and me, and I could tell that he was very close to his two sons, Chris and Mike. During the summer, we had all gone to ball games and or movies almost weekly. Jack was a beefy, athletic type man with salt and pepper hair and steel gray-blue eyes.
"Boys," said Jack, "Helen and I want you to be the first to know that we are seriously talking about getting married. We've all had fun together over the last 18 months, and I think we would make a great family. But there some issues I want to put on the table which could affect our final decision. First, I want you boys, Chris and Mike, to assure us that you will fully accept Helen as your mother, and Jim, I want assurance that you will accept me as your father. We're not going to make the mistake that lots of people make by not clearing the air of any possible resentments before the fact."
"I'm speaking specifically about discipline, guys," said Jack. "Jim, I know that your mother has to spank you on occasion. I'm going to be taking that over. At your age, a man should spank you. Boys, I will continue spanking you as I do now." Both boys blushed furiously. Still being spanked at 15 and 16 embarrassed them, but their dad provided their housing and ruled the checkbook. "But I want you all to understand that if I am not at home, Helen will spank any or all of you if she needs to. And we do not want to hear any such backtalk such as, 'You're not my dad!' or 'You're not my mom!' But discipline aside, if Helen and I do marry, we will continue to have the good times we've had for the last 18 months. Helen and I are both loving parents and we feel we would have a wonderful home for us all. Now, you boys can go and watch some more television, and we want you to talk together and give us your collective thinking later."
Jack and Helen went outside for a walk and left the boys to talk privately. They were all a bit shaken by the news, both of the marriage and of the clear message of ongoing discipline. Chris was the first to speak. "Well, I'm all for it. Jim, your mom is a great cook and I like her a lot." Jim replied, "Yeah, I'm for it too. We have fun together and your dad is a great guy. But we need to talk about the discipline they plan to hand out."
Mike joined the conversation. "Oh, Dad is more bark than bite. Yeah, we still get spankings. In fact, Dad spanked both of us last week for being late to dinner. But he mostly uses his hand or the hairbrush. I think the worst part is having to take our pants and underpants down, then having him spend a few minutes positioning us, heads down near the floor, butts high over his knee, and then having to keep our butts still for the spankings. It hurts to sit down for awhile, but he doesn't mark or bruise us like some dads do. Look at Jamie Henderson. Ever seen his butt in the gym shower after report cards come out? His dad wears his ass out with the belt if his grades aren't good. I went home with him after school one day last month. We were in Jamie's room and Mr. Henderson came in, made Jamie take his pants and underpants off and lay face down on the bed, and punished him right there in front of me. By the time he finished lecturing Jamie about his grades and whipping his ass, I bet 20-30 minutes had passed. Jamie was sitting easy for three days!"
Jim gulped. "But how often does he spank you?, he asked Chris.
"Oh, not much more often than twice a month. I get it more often than Mike does. Dad says I need it more because I'm the oldest. Probably the worst is if you do something dishonest, like forging his signature on a bad test paper from school, though. Then he spanks you every day for a week. But what about your mom? How often does she spank you?"
"I get it a lot," said Jim. "But she doesn't spank really hard. She uses a little whipping spoon that she keeps on top of the refrigerator. I have to take down my pants and underpants and stand there while she sits in the chair and spanks me. Lately the worst part is that my front is exposed. One time I went upstairs and put on my jockstrap and came back down for the spanking. She wanted me to take it down. I said, 'But Mom, my butt is bare,' and she said, 'Yes, but I have to spank under the leg straps and all down in there, so take it down.' It would probably be better if I lay across her lap. But I guess your dad will be doing it now. Anyway, it's really more embarrassing when she takes my temperature in my butt or gives me an enema."
"She takes your temperature in your butt?" asked Mike, a look of surprise on his face. "Only when I'm wanting to stay home from school. But that's my fault, because she caught me drinking hot water to run up the thermometer. And she gives me an enema when I'm really grouchy, she says that means I'm constipated," said Jim, "but she's a good mom and does a lot for me. And she really likes you and Chris."
The three boys agreed that they should be supportive of Jack and Helen getting married. They figured that they might even get fewer spankings because their parents would be paying more attention to each other than to them.
Jack and Helen returned from their walk and the boys went down to the den to tell them how they felt. The parents were clearly pleased with the boys' response. A few days later they were married in a small civil ceremony, with only the three boys in attendance.