sparx
Member
I grew up in a household where both my mom and dad gave us "whoopins". My dad with his belt, and my mom with anything she could lay her hands on, from fly swatters to yard sticks to clothes brushes. We were also slapped once in a while by mom, or backhanded by dad, but never with a closed hand.
I deserved every one of the spankings or slaps I got, and neither one ever drew blood from any of us or left anything more than a whelp (no bruises). There wasn't any drinking in the house outside of an occasional glass of wine unless there was a party, and I've never seen either of them drunk... not once. I've seen them a little tipsy after a Christmas or New Year's party, but that's it. And yes, there were always a good number of rifles, shotguns and a couple handguns in the house as well. My father NEVER hit my mom, and we were raised with the rule that you never hit a lady unless she was a stranger and was attacking you without provocation (thereby absolving the rule since that wouldn't be the actions of a true "lady").
With my dad having served as a Marine for 21 years, other kids considered our family "rules" somewhat strict, and we were taught to respect elders and immediately come when we are called (after answering "Yes Ma'am?" or "Yes Sir?"). Overall I think I turned out to be a pretty decent guy. At least everyone that I've meet, and especially those that get to know me, consider me to be an honest, kind, fair and respectful person who holds true to their word. Same goes for my brothers and sisters, who unlike me (the black sheep if you could call me that) graduated High School with honors or better (I did OK, but it was often hard to get my mind going in a direction different than my hobby interests such as backpacking, climbing, fishing and hunting... call it "one-track" I guess).
If I had a family of my own (married going on 19 years, but wife is infertile and we were relocated by the company I was with at the time so often around the Midwest during our "prime" years we never really had a chance to adopt), I would be proud to raise them in the same fashion. In my mind, strict discipline beyond "talking" or "time-outs" is sometimes needed, but abuse is uncalled for. Fortunately I was blessed with being raised in a household where that stood strong in our values and beliefs. BTW, both my parents passed away last January after 57+ years of happy marriage (he from a failed stint that was being placed in his heart, and she, who was more or less bed/sofa-ridden for the past 10 years or so, from natual causes a day after we told her Dad had passed... I guess she didn't want to be on this earth without him).
Don't feel bad about your friend's comments, Maser. I would almost put money on it that 15-20 years from now, you will be doing well and considered a respectable citizen of the community, while your friend will be blaming everyone else for all his problems and have an excuse for everything as nothing will be his fault (not that it will always happen that way, but I've seen it happen plenty of times that I have no qualms about saying the chances are higher than not that it will).
I deserved every one of the spankings or slaps I got, and neither one ever drew blood from any of us or left anything more than a whelp (no bruises). There wasn't any drinking in the house outside of an occasional glass of wine unless there was a party, and I've never seen either of them drunk... not once. I've seen them a little tipsy after a Christmas or New Year's party, but that's it. And yes, there were always a good number of rifles, shotguns and a couple handguns in the house as well. My father NEVER hit my mom, and we were raised with the rule that you never hit a lady unless she was a stranger and was attacking you without provocation (thereby absolving the rule since that wouldn't be the actions of a true "lady").
With my dad having served as a Marine for 21 years, other kids considered our family "rules" somewhat strict, and we were taught to respect elders and immediately come when we are called (after answering "Yes Ma'am?" or "Yes Sir?"). Overall I think I turned out to be a pretty decent guy. At least everyone that I've meet, and especially those that get to know me, consider me to be an honest, kind, fair and respectful person who holds true to their word. Same goes for my brothers and sisters, who unlike me (the black sheep if you could call me that) graduated High School with honors or better (I did OK, but it was often hard to get my mind going in a direction different than my hobby interests such as backpacking, climbing, fishing and hunting... call it "one-track" I guess).
If I had a family of my own (married going on 19 years, but wife is infertile and we were relocated by the company I was with at the time so often around the Midwest during our "prime" years we never really had a chance to adopt), I would be proud to raise them in the same fashion. In my mind, strict discipline beyond "talking" or "time-outs" is sometimes needed, but abuse is uncalled for. Fortunately I was blessed with being raised in a household where that stood strong in our values and beliefs. BTW, both my parents passed away last January after 57+ years of happy marriage (he from a failed stint that was being placed in his heart, and she, who was more or less bed/sofa-ridden for the past 10 years or so, from natual causes a day after we told her Dad had passed... I guess she didn't want to be on this earth without him).
Don't feel bad about your friend's comments, Maser. I would almost put money on it that 15-20 years from now, you will be doing well and considered a respectable citizen of the community, while your friend will be blaming everyone else for all his problems and have an excuse for everything as nothing will be his fault (not that it will always happen that way, but I've seen it happen plenty of times that I have no qualms about saying the chances are higher than not that it will).