I was born in the 70s and lived down south.
Spanking was pretty common - in fact, I would venture to say that it was expected. Sometimes, it was a community affair; if a kid got in trouble and his/her parent was not around, a neighbor might have done the spanking.
In one NC neighborhood where my babysitter lived, there were a lot of homes with kids. Everyone knew when So-and-so was in trouble, because his/her mom/dad/grandparent/etc., would send him/her outside to “pick a switch.” The kids always got together to go switch-hunting - this appeared to be as much a punishment as the actual ”whoopin’,” and there was always great discussion from all of the hunting kids about whether a switch should be long and thin, or thick. And “my [parent] belts me.”
We also had paddling in school.
I never earned a real one, because it was drilled into me that if I ever got in trouble at school, it would be double trouble when I got home. And I was even pretty mortified, at one school in Alabama, when it was my birthday and I had to stand up in front of class for my birthday spanking. Went like this:
- The class sang Happy Birthday
- Class calls out “how many lickins does ______ get?”
- ______ says his/her age, then bends over and puts hands on his/her knees or a desk
- The teacher “spanks“ as the class counts the licks
- Then everyone yells “and one to grow on,” and that one lick was a real one
Except for very rare occasion, if I did something warranting a spanking, my parents did not use paddling implements. So I grew out of my mom’s hand-spankings young; I don’t remember getting any from her after five years old or so. But my dad’s hand tanned my hide until I was a teenager or so - not often, mind you, I was a good kid and I feared the hand. His was heavy.
I was the eldest, so if my siblings were in my care and one of them got in trouble, I also got in trouble. We learned at a young age to behave, and did not deserve them often. In fact, when I got older, I remember spanking my little sister and we always discussed it was better I did it than Daddy (plus I was a kid, how bad could my bare hand on a clothed bottom have been?).
Unfortunately, though, because my brother was only five when I left home and I had spanked him several times when he was in my care, I learned later that his memories of me were few and involved my spanking him. Unintended consequences, to be sure; that may have contributed to the fact that we have no relationship now, and that saddens me.
Once, my beloved grandmother spanked me. I remember this vividly. She was visiting us in NC from Maryland and I was with her at the motel where she was staying. I guess I was about four or five at the time and of course she should have paid me more attention to me than the phone call she was on. So I gave her lip and, when she paid me no mind, I defiantly stood by the phone, put my finger over the button, and very dramatically pressed that hang-up button that the receiver would sit on (I remember it was a green phone, one with a rotary dial), sticking my tongue out at her. Hoo, boy, did I tick her off but good.
That was the only bare-bottomed spanking I ever got. I don’t remember it being too painful so much as shocking - my Grandma was spanking me! And she was crying too when she was done. Then she hugged me, told me I mustn’t do that again, that she did not have to tell my daddy if I promised to behave. And let me tell you, never again did I misbehave enough to earn another during any visit with her.