In light of the evil and exceptionally cruel behavior of the young teenagers against the elderly bus monitor I would like to know if/or what kind of discipline they typically received at home. My parents were never apprehensive to expect respect and responsibility from me. When I did not demonstrate good behavior I receive a belt on my butt as the ultimate from of punishment. That method served them well and I continued that method with my kids and it produced good results. What type of punishment did you receive??

The lads in my family each have a flat spot on their respective nose tips.
There are places in the house where I grew up that the drywall and paint are somewhat thinned from repetitive prolonged contact.

Do the math.

And don't ask about car windows.

All that my mom had to say was, "dont make me tell your dad when he gets home!"

I got spanked, funny thing looking back i dont remember getting spanked very often so obviously the message got across to me early on. As i got older prividlges would be taken away, such as car keys, gas money (i had a job but my truck used an insane amount of gas on a day to day basis with going to school and all). Like life, if you experience some hardships and you learn early on you can have alot more fun, responsibility, and trust if you play by the rules.

The problem with todays kids is that they have no real consequences or parents that dont follow through.

My siblings and I were just told of the consequences of our bad behavior. I guess guilt kept us from doing stuff more than once. We all turned out to be fairly productive and well-adjusted citizens.

If I got into trouble at school we got sent to see the gym teacher and he had a nice board with holes drilled into it. Then we would get it again when we went home.

You know, it's weird. My sister and I rarely got in trouble. We were never grounded, as our parents didn't believe in that type of discipline. But we were never spanked, either, except for one time when I think my mom overreacted when my older sister pushed me, a toddler, off the couch and I hit my head on the corner of the coffee table (explains so much). Both of my parents told me a long time ago that they were so badly beaten as children (grew up in the 40s) that they swore they would never do that to their own kids.

We were both very well-behaved children. If we did something to the contrary, the behavior was discussed. And that was the only consequence: knowing that our parents knew what we did and that we had disappointed them. Nothing in this world could have been worse than letting the most important people in our lives down. At least, that's how I saw it, I can't speak for my sister. They sacrificed so much, and worked so hard for us, that they deserved to have respect for that. I respected both of my parents greatly as a kid and teenager.

I'm not saying it was perfect, or that I was perfect, but they had it pretty easy in comparison to others. I never smoked, drank, or did anything that would have made my parents blush. I never swore around them until I was in my 20s. I so rarely talked back that my weak attempts at mockery or anger were probably too funny to punish.

Grew up for awhile in a Baptist military boarding school in Texas. Every night they'd call out the names of students who'd misbehaved that day. We'd line up in the hall and one by one we were called into the headmasters office for swats.

Then we'd often spend our Saturday standing at parade-rest in the football field. That was up until about 6th grade. I guess that pretty much kept me in line. At home I rarely got spanked, but did get grounded. And when they said a week of chores and nothing else, they meant it.

If I got into trouble at school we got sent to see the gym teacher and he had a nice board with holes drilled into it. Then we would get it again when we went home.

Exactly. Trouble at school was NOTHING compared to the trouble at home when my parents learned I had misbehaved at school.

This has actually been discussed here before. I'm sure everyone has heard about someone using a razor strop (not strap). My father literally had one and used it on us. We also occasionally had to pick our own switch off of a tree to be used on us.

I got a few spankings here and there, but both my parents had the looks necessary to stop all blood flow in my body when I was in trouble. They also had a certain tone in their voices that could make a lawyer feel guilty.

I don't recall ever getting a spanking from my mom or dad but my grandmother would pick up anything she could find to use as a paddle - shoe, hairbrush (my proudest hour was when her favorite brush broke but you can bet I didn't gloat) or a flyswatter, typically. When a bluff is in, early, you don't have to spank. If someone is spanking their kids all the time or even frequently, they need to give it up and try something else.

This has actually been discussed here before. I'm sure everyone has heard about someone using a razor strop (not strap). My father literally had one and used it on us. We also occasionally had to pick our own switch off of a tree to be used on us.

That was insult to injury having to go get your own switch and if ya picked a weak one mom would go pick her own lol

... We also occasionally had to pick our own switch off of a tree to be used on us.

Never a parent thang for us, but Ms. Kersey could evaluate a self selected switch with a most critical eye. While a bit strict, she was also full of love and could bake a blackberry cobbler like no one else.

My discipline was pretty much like Poe described at Post #10, above.
But since I never did anything wrong even the rare early childhood spankings and later shame administration were, like, totally unfair.
(i keed . . . i keed . . .)

I got a few spankings, some with a belt, but like my sons, I could count the spankings on two hands. Heck, I'll bet my sons could count them on one hand. The biggest mistake I ever made was when Mr Hostetter, the social studies teacher at Grant gave me a choice of a paddle (with holes) or a dowel rod. You know, that tiny, round little stick couldn't hurt much! WOW, I'm fairly good at math, you would think I could have figured this one out. I never made that mistake again. Actually, it was only my second time to make a choice. The other is a little long for this forum.
C. T.

Well, before I grew too big for dad's lap, it was spankings. After that they tried groundings but that didn't really work too well. Finally, physical stuff...sit-ups, push-ups, running around the neighborhood (probably all why I didn't become too health conscious until around 30 years old..haha). But regardless, I turned out just fine.

That was insult to injury having to go get your own switch and if ya picked a weak one mom would go pick her own lol

At the end of the day, the threat of a spanking was supposed to be a mind game to deter more than something physical used to punish!!

I have never been able to get behind physical punishment for any type of behavior correction. It drives me nuts to see a kid hit a sibling or their parent and the parent smack them while saying "We don't hit!" Uh...double standard?

I never really heard any horror stories until I was in college, when a friend, who was a very kind, loving and well-mannered young lady, told me that her mother broke several wooden spoons over her backside growing up. I couldn't wrap my mind around the fact that someone so well-adjusted and sweet could possibly have done something to deserve that kind of wrath...or that they turned out so well-adjusted after having the crap beaten out of them.

It looks like, however, I am in the minority on this forum in regards to either how I feel about physical punishment, or the discipline I received growing up.

. . . when, in fact, you (and yours) should be in the majority.
(no kidding).

I think every little [insert explitive questioning parenthood] on that bus (along with their parents) should be treated to a one way trip to Singapore.

I hear they have some effective, time-tested, methods of dealing with youthful scofflaws such as those pictured.
Mostly they involve a cane-based medication that makes Ritalin look like Placebo.
There is a ride at this Far Eastern version of Disneyland featuring A Clockwork Orange.
The orange has a smiling face. You can't take your eyes off it.

(that was the type of psychological warfare/shame and fear inducement that was used on me when i was an impressionable youth . . . after i figured out how to avoid the sting of the belt. =)

The ultimate spanking "with your pants down" included dad spitting on his hands and rubbing them together, warming up for the mother of all spankings.

Most of the time we were sent to stand in a corner.

It looks like, however, I am in the minority on this forum in regards to either how I feel about physical punishment, or the discipline I received growing up.
Yes, it seems we are.

I never really got disciplined as a kid. My mother had a look that could kill. That's all it ever took for me. With that look I didn't want to find out what else she could do.

When my brother and I were 7 to 10 years old, we'd get a spanking from our mom and then another when ouf dad got home....this was during the summer. When we got to the 10 - 12 year range, it was pulling weeds in the flower beds or yard.....when we got into our teens, we had kind of strightened up or just didn't get caught too often.

The problem with todays kids is that they have no real consequences or parents that dont follow through.

I think that is the real key...not whether a kid was spanked or not. There needs to be consequences. What those consequences are is far less important than how and when they're administered.

The problem with todays kids is that they have no real consequences or parents that dont follow through.

Absolutely, this is a problem. Kids get their phones taken away at school, according to policy, and after the first offense, a parent has to pick up the phone, and I have seen those parents come up and chew out the front office help or the administrators for following policy. In fact, sometimes, it's the freakin' parent who call their kid's cell during school hours! There are no consequences for the kid in this situation, and the administrators and teachers are left looking like idiots in front of the kid, who then thinks they can get away with anything because mommy or daddy will bail them out.