The Worst Childhood Punishment

Hey there. We love the Kevin & Bean show on the "World Famous KROQ" radio station. We listen to it every morning on our way to work. For those of you that are not familiar with it, it's a talk radio show filled with silly discussions, lots of comedy, some idiotic antics thrown in for flavor, with some pretty bad ass music sprinkled in from time to time. One of today's topics of discussion was childhood punishments. They read an Email from a fan stating how her mother used to lick her face or armpit to keep her in check. Face or armpit... I don't think I have ever heard of a parent licking their kid to keep 'em in check. I do see how it could work, though. You embarrass the hell out of them and see if they'll do it again knowing that you're on the prowl ready to lick them. lol Some of the others that were mentioned as punishments included hot wax, soap in the mouth, and belt snapping. There was also the more traditional go to bed without dinner (which my mother in law finds extremely cruel), grounding, and timeouts. I didn't get a chance to hear the whole discussion but I was tempted to call in with some of the punishments that were handed down to me as a child.

Let me be frank. I was horrible. Jumping off of roofs, jumping off balconies, smashing windows, throwing "dirt" rocks at cars, which sometimes were not dirt... Young Metallman was a real pain in the ass. I remember being punished constantly. I remember running away from my aunt cause she was ready to whip me for being bad. I'm pretty sure she ended up getting me, since we lived in the same place. lol She'd whip us with an extension cord. That's right, regular old belt had no effect on us. lol I also used to be locked in the bathroom as punishment. I remember someone putting in one of those bar sliding locks on the out side of the door to keep someone from coming out of the bathroom. lol I guess those were my "time outs" since the bathroom is one boring ass place to just be in. Especially when you don't have to use it. And they were lengthy stays, too. Up to an hour, if I remember correctly. Then there was the "hand to the flame" thing. Whenever I got caught stealing or touching/breaking something that I shouldn't have been messing around with, I'd get the, "Te voy a quemar las manos!!!" (I'm going to burn your hands!) My grandma was usually the one that would carry this one out. She'd turn on one of the burners on the stove and grabbed my hand and slowly inched towards the flame. She never really burned my hand, but always got it close enough where you definitely felt the heat.

I deserved those punishments. You have to pay the price if you plan on doing the crime. Where they effective? I don't know. lol I'm not stealing, breaking windows, or being bad now, so I guess they worked. But then again, it could just be that I grew out of it.

I'm sure that many of us parents have our own methods, traditional or unorthodox, of punishing our kids. Of the above methods, I've really only used the bathroom punishment, but I did not go as far as installing a lock on the outside. If the kids really wanted, they could probably just walk out when they pleased. We usually do this to our little one, who sometimes just refuses to listen or clean up. After several warnings, we tell her that she's going to get timeout. She spends no more than a minute in there but I'm sure for a child that age, it must be hell.

Thinking back, I'm wondering if the methods used on me were considered "normal". A comment made on the Kevin & Bean show sparked that debate, since the child who got licked thought it was normal until a friend of hers told her otherwise. What kind of methods do you use to keep in line? What kind were used on you as kid? Think back, friends. lol We all had a little bad side to us, even if most of us don't want to admit it. Later!