Remember When......

[Ryan]

You guys should all come raise your kids in Seville, Florida :

Our town population is under 1,000 -- we're a small agricultural community and it's mostly just rednecks and Southern folk who farm or raise cattle, etc. I grew up in a typically Southern Baptist home. My parents worked and I stayed with my grandma and grandpa everyday until I was 13 or so.

We didn't watch TV -- we all played outside. Didn't matter, we didn't have cable or satellite and we only had three channels anyway, and most of the day it was just news and talk shows. We sat down at noon everyday to eat "dinner" (what my grandparents refer to lunch as), and then again at 6:00pm for "supper." You didn't walk out of the kitchen with your plate, you ate at the dinner table.

Fights between me and my cousins were settled the hard way. Growing up, the most terrifying sound in the entire world was the whooshing sound that my grandpa's belt made as it got pulled off through his beltloops. We all knew we were in for it then.

We went to church on Sunday mornings and had Sunday dinner with the entire family at my grandparents' house. My grandma was a Sunday school teacher so during the week me and my other cousins would help her prepare a Bible lesson for the other students. She also taught us to play piano (that was one of our few 'indoor activities') because she played piano in the church and felt it'd be good for us to learn.

The only remedies my grandparents knew of were ice, a band-aid, and peroxide (ouch). If you fell out of the tree you were climbing, you were probably fortunate enough to get all three.

When I wanted something, I worked for it. My grandpa grew fern crops, raised cattle and pigs, and also had citrus groves. I spent summer days cutting fern, picking up fallen tree limbs, pulling weeds out of the garden, helping pick crops, etc. I wasn't given an allowance, I just worked until I made enough money to get whatever it was I wanted.

My uncles and aunts knew they were allowed to spank me, and my other cousins knew that my parents could spank them. And boy did we ever get a lot of it! You'd think we were all little masochists or something, the way we almost begged to have our butts beat.

I guess what's funny is that I read Randy's post and everyone was talking about how old it made them feel, but this is still how kids are raised down here. Oh well, I guess a lot of the smaller towns are probably that way... we're shut off from the rest of the world

Ryan

Ryan, I can relate to much of your youth. Not the same but similar. I sit back and dream about "simple life" all the time. I made a promise to myself that I was going to find it again... even if it takes living in the woods.

Mike

[fcdiscus]

Great Thread! Frank

[BlueTurquoise]

Radal,

Great thread.

I remember the good times as a kid, we played cricket in our drive way and there was a cow paddock right next door, usually patrolled by one mean bull. If you hit a six (ball over the boundary) straight away we'd all call out "SHOTGUN" and the last person to shout it would have to go over the electric fence to fetch the ball. These days kids are inside playing cricket on the computer.

I remember summers spent in the river, all day, that's all we'd do, swim, becuase it was 44 degrees out of the water. These days we have aircons, even I admit that I am aircon addicted...

You had it bad with the belt! my uncle used to use the cane (big long stick). We used to hide it so he wouldn't find it, but stopped that when he started using his belt when he couldn't find the cain! hehe at least the cain was not flexible like a whip! ouch! These days my parents would probably sue my uncle!

It's great being a kid in the country...

Chong

[Ryan]

Chong, my grandma on my mother's side used to make us go outside and pick our own switch off the tree when we were bad.. then she made us bring it back to her and she'd spank us with it. And if you pulled all the leaves off, she'd make you go and get another one, because the leaves used to sting and she wanted them left on ;D Let's just say, it made us never want to be bad... EVER...

Ryan

[nalah]

In the late 60's,you could buy a small whip for kids....
i got one for xmas one year. can't remember it been used on me....

i dont belief in abuse but i do think parents should be allowed to punish their kids.a good smack on the backside never killed anyone.

at school,teachers used a ruler to hit you across the knuckles - boy that hurt.LOL

[cgrim10]

the leaves stung?? maybe we didn't get the same whuppin?...

i didn't really want to "remember when" then!!
signed: a survivor

[BlueTurquoise]

Ryan,

LOL that is downright torture! "Choose your method of punishment". I guess you would have to climb to the very top of the tree to get the new, weaker branches so it didn't hurt as much! LOL and then got in trouble for that too! hehe

My uncle used the "pain stick", full bamboo, you know light, swift and stung like hell! Woosh crack!

My grandma used to just use her hands on my thigh, one spank was all she needed to send me to tears! I remember one time when she spanked me so hard that I had a hand imprint on my thigh for ages! LMAO ouch... Brings a tear to my eye remembering...

Chong

[jim_shedden]

Chong : I had a grandmother like that. Tiny little Scottish lady....about 3 foot 2 inches. My late brother called her Helga............. ;D. I really miss him...... ;D