A Spanking Wosey

To spank or not to spank?
That is the question.
Whether to suffer the switches
and branches of outraged parents
or simply send the kids to their rooms.

My Mom is 85.
When she was little this was not a
question, but a comment on her day.
Adults were in control
If you misbehaved, you cut the
switch off the peach tree
and stood still while Mom
switched your legs or heaven
forbid, Dad took off his belt.

In Waycross, people have told me
stories of children who misbehaved in
school and got whippings all the way
home from concerned individuals in the
community. This was at the same time
a popular punishment at school was to
stick a child in the closet for the day.
Unfortunately, a few kids got left in the
closet at the end of the day.

When I was growing up, spankings were still
a part of life. My principal was introduced to
me as "the man who will spank you if you are bad."
I personally never got a spanking from the man,
but David Gunter and Frank Wingate had a race to
see who could get the most spankings in a year.
David won hands down.

By the time I got in college, spanking was
not an option in North Georgia. I even thought it was
illegal until I moved down here. As a teacher, I have
only spanked one child in 21 years of teaching. It
turned out that his mother had tried to commit suicide
a few days before, but no one at the school knew.

So how do I feel about spankings? I have to admit I am
a spanking Wosey. First of all, I hate the way they sound.
Secondly, I hate hitting kids, so I don't do it very well.
I guess I just don't have that gene, although I do sometimes
envy our principal, who without hesistation, applies the board
of education firmly and without guilt.

I do believe that we have gone overboard on placating our children.
We spend a lot of time bribing them, which gives them the power instead
of us. While I don't object to spanking in many situations, I guess it isn't something I will ever do or do well if I do it at all.

So, for all of you with a strong conviction, paddle on! (As long, of course as you aren't abusive.) As for me, I'll stick with my star charts and time out corners. I have accepted my fate as a spanking wosey, while some of you are the last true cowboys in town!