continued from page another day. ….

continued from page

another day. My brother peeled his blue jeans down exposing several wash clothes he had poked down inside his pants — a protective butt barrier that would have saved him from any pain. Instead of thinking about the error of his ways, my clever brother had used “the waiting period” to protect his tushy with layers of cloth. When my dad bent him over and saw his oversized buttocks, he couldn’t bring himself to strike him.

While the idea of corporal punishment is controversial today, my siblings and I emerged from our childhood without lasting emotional or physical scars. We are lucky. We had good parents who loved us and used an occasional slap or pat to correct our bad behaviors and help us understand right from wrong. It didn’t lead to trauma; instead, it became a part of our childhood narrative. And now, the day Andy stuffed washcloths down his jeans and averted a spanking will live on in the many family stories in my archives.