My father never used a switch or hairbrush or ruler. He always used a thick, 1+1/2 inch wide leather belt, usually doubled up. Once in awhile the belt would be full length and would wrap around. On at least 2 occasions that I recall, I was hit by the swinging buckle. Always I was first told to "go up to your room, get undressed and wait for me." I would wait in dreaded anticipation for up to an hour sometimes.
Though he was an ex-boxer and extremely strong, the welts, mostly on my buttocks, seldom lasted longer than 3 or 4 days. . He beat me until I was screaming and running around the room in circles... and he was completely out of breath.
The beatings began when I was about 4, caused me to begin running away from home when I was 6. Between 8 and 12 I ran away often but seldom stayed away longer than a couple of days. At 12 I hitch-hiked to Chicago from a northwest suburb. I was waiting in the bus depot when a cop arrested me and I spent months in a juvenile detention center in Waukegan. I was 13 when I got out and the next time I ran it was by bicycle and I was gone for a couple of months. The next time I was still 13 and I got to NYC where I lived for over a year.
I was back in his house (he had a new wife and her 3 kids lived with us too, in Connecticut) when I was 18, I had gone back so I could finish school and graduate. He had the audacity to come at me with a fist and I defended myself. He fell down a flight of stairs, tore one Achille's tendon which bothered him for years. For the rest of his life he lied about how he tore that tendon! But he never physically attacked me again and I was always the one he called upon when he needed help with anything serious such as hospitalization, handling the escapades of his ex-wives, etc.
Meanwhile I have raised 3 daughters and, for a couple of years, a stepson. All but one are adults now - the youngest is 20 and recently dropped out of college to pursue a career in stage craft. I don't believe in spanking... although I potched my middle daughter one swat on her tukkos one time at a Walmart's in Texas because she had been acting up for 30 minutes, creating a serious disturbance. The folks around actually applauded when I did so and she calmed immediately. They also warned me than in Texas parents could get arrested for doing what I had done - in spite of the fact that at the time (and to this day) teachers and school administrators are allowed to use corporal punishment on their students! By the way, both of my oldest daughters are social workers within the public school system. One of them has chosen to never have children, the other produced 2 daughters who have never been spanked and, at 8 and 11 are the smartest, best behaved kids I have ever seen!
I NEVER HAD TO PUNISH any of my children other than that one potch in Walmarts and I only gave time outs once each to all 3. I taught them all that they OWN the space around their bodies and that NOBODY has the right to invade that space to touch them (including their parents) without their specific permission. I am a retired Naturopathic Physician and Social Worker professionally and a Dominant who was very active in the BDSM community where I lived much of My adult life... and I do believe that, with very few unusual exceptions it is never necessary to use any form of corporal punishment on a child or teenage person. Mutual respect and communication are the tools most effective in the raising of children to become stand-up, honest and sensitive adults.
@agracier - Nettles grow wild all over North America. I gathered Stinging Nettles in Texas, Kentucky, West Virginia, New York and parts of Illinois to make medicine that is especially good for Urinary Tract Infections... and by the way it is still commonly used among the BDSM communities in North America and England for corporal punishment... as the stinging sensation can last for a wonderfully long time.