I was spanked as a child. I say this with neither sorrow nor embarrassment.
My parents didn’t spank me until I possessed basic reasoning, and before each swat on my usually-clothed rear, they explained exactly what the premise for it all was. They told me that, being young, I was going to want to do anything that popped into my mind. That much I already could agree on. They also explained that some things were either dangerous or wrong, even if children didn’t understand why, and that if we did these “no-no” things knowingly, we could expect non-lethal pain.
This explanation, I believe, gave me an edge on my peers in calculating cost/benefit, because I’ll tell you… some things I was just willing to get spanked for.
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