52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History - Week #40 Trouble

Week #40 – Trouble

Week 40: Trouble. What happened when you got into trouble as a child? What was punishment like in your home?

Oh, now this brings back some memories!

Because my Dad was away most of the time [he was enlisted in the US Navy and away at sea most of the time!], my Mom was both caretaker, and the great punisher in our household!

During my youth, childen were spanked when they misbehaved. And if you were at a neighbor friends house and you misbehaved, you knew their Mom would spank you and then call your Mom, so that you would end up getting two spankings in the end!

But I can probably count on one hand the number of spankings I got as a child. Instead, my mother used her words to punish me. [It left me with a complex that I ended up having to deal with in my forties!] She would tell me she was ashamed of my behavior, and ashamed of me.[As an adult, I felt like I was never good enough. And that I could never find approval.] I realize my Mom didn't mean for that to happen, so I do not hold any ill will to her for that. She honestly did the best that she could do. When I was particuarly naughty, I would lose privileges: such as television, or my books. [Yep, I was a geek even then! I'd rather hole up in my bedroom with a good book than about anything else!]

And if I was overheard saying something I wasn't supposed to say, well... a bar of Ivory soap was used to wash those naughty words right out of my mouth!

As I was growing up, however, there really was very little punishing going on in our household. My Mom was the best.She would sit and play with my sister and I, make believe things when we were small, and as we got older we played games [Monopoly, Yahtzee, cards, etc.]. And Mom treated us as her friend as well as her daughter.

It was a good childhood, and there are times.... like most individuals... I wish I could go back to those days again!