"How were you punished? What were some of the penalties?"
"The usual, like no desert, or no television, though we didn't watch that much anyway. We adopted some different sentences, some rather unique." He waited for me to continue. "I remember not being allowed to choose my own clothes for a week, or wear a favorite item. We might be excluded from joining in family game nights, or miss other fun activities. We couldn't have friends over or go to their house."
"That all sounds fair, but mild."
"Not so to a young girl! You didn't know my mother's taste in clothing!"
He laughed. "What else?"
"Sometimes I couldn't go to my room."
"I don't understand."
"My room was my sanctuary. If I did something bad, I was barred from it for a night or two, sometimes more. I even had to sleep on the sofa."
"That is a unique punishment and I'd guess very effective. What happened if you were especially naughty?"
"More severe punishment. We knew the guide lines very well. Karen and Timmy will learn them too."
"What about when you were very naughty?"
He was hinting toward a topic I didn't particularly want to discuss but I didn't want to lie to him either. I was getting perturbed. "Why don't you spit it out, Doctor? You want to know if we got a spanking."
"Did you?"
"Yes. Sometimes, I got a spanking," and added, "like most kids back then."
"Tell me about it."
I didn't want to, but I knew he'd press. "When I'd do something really bad, I'd get a spanking. Period. That would be the end of it." He let the silence hang there like a three day fog. When I'd out waited him, he prodded forward.
"Was it like when your husband took his belt to Karen?"
"No! It was nothing like that! What Paul did, he did out of anger, on the spur of the moment and we both regretted it after it was over. He's apologized and made peace with Karen and it won't happen again."
"But you said you'd get a spanking, I presume for something equally wrong. Isn't that so?" I nodded.
"Yes, but we told our children spanking would not be a penalty in our household. Period. I assume Karen will wonder about it because she's so obsessed in doing everything exactly as we did back then but I imagine she's happy she doesn't have to face that punishment. If she isn't, she'll just have to live with the decision anyway. I'm committed not to hurt my children. I don't see any point in harping on the subject and I don't want to blabber about my long forgotten experiences."