I walked into a shop and saw a stack of "rotans" hanging by a shelf!! The magic wand - the cane. I can say I have been on both ends of this infamous disciplinary tool.
The one I remember most from childhood is the day I overstayed at my neighbours'. My parents kept calling out to me over and over. It was getting late, it was time to go home - according to my parents, not me!
So I continued to play and pretended I couldn't hear them.
The neighbour's house close enough for me to hear them and if I peeked through planks that make up the wall, see them too. When I saw Dad coming over with the cane swinging by his side, I knew it was time to make my great escape. To where I don't know, but I wasn't going to be a sitting duck. I ran.
He ran! We went around my neighbour's house a couple of times. Then I lost him. My run slowed down to a jog and then a walk, looking back, looking forward. Where could he be? I could not hear his footsteps anymore and he had stopped calling out to me to stop running.
When I came around to the next corner, I saw Mum standing by the kitchen door asking me to come back. That should have been my cue to go back, but nope. I asked her if Dad was around the next corner. She was standing in a spot where she could see both sides of the house. The one I was at and the one I wanted to step around to. She shook her head and as soon as I took a step to round the corner, whack.
Mum lied!!!
I still find that story hilarious and love sharing it during the family get together. I mean, did I really think I was going to outrun and outwit my Dad.? Besides, what was the plan? I did have to go home eventually and would still have gotten a beating for giving them the run-around.
You might be wondering if I ever used the cane on my kids? But I'd say the walls and furniture got the brunt of it. All I needed to do was to whip it out, when the words didn't work. That's the first part, then I'd start the countdown and like a magic wand, it gets things done. And if they moved too slow I just whack the wall. That sound did the trick.
I once had a conversation with a Dutch colleague, and he told me that he spanked his kids when they deserved it. I was surprised, as I thought it was more an Asian thing and it was recent like 10 years ago. He then tells me that he did not believe in new-age parenting unless his kids were also reading the books and know how to "behave" accordingly haha.
I do find the balance between new-age parenting with sprinkles of old-school. Rest assured, no kids were harmed-harmed....
Lead Image: Photo by Sharon McCutcheon from Pexels