Switches

When my mother was young, she and her siblings would be hit with switches for misbehaving. To add insult to injury, they had to go out and bring back their own switch to be hit with. If they thought they could get away with a lighter sentence by bringing back an inferior switch, they were sadly mistaken. My grandmother would then go get a better one and the punishment would be worse.

I was thinking about this last night in the shower. I have a shoe holder on the back of our bedroom door with an assortment of whomping implements. I’m going to make Lion select his own paddle for his punishments from now on. I don’t usually have a specific paddle in mind. Sometimes I pick a paddle I’ve forgotten about. Sometimes I do pick a lighter one knowing I will have to hit harder, but the paddle is the right length or width or whatever for my purposes. We have a few that have the rough stair tread paper on them. I generally rub the rough side across Lion’s butt before I begin, but I hit with the other side. Of course, I can always change my mind and hit with the rough side if necessary.

There is a decent selection of paddles in there right now, but I’ll look for more over the weekend. I know there are mean ones hiding in the spare bedroom. I want Lion to have a full range of paddles to contemplate. I think it’s important that he be the one making the choice. Or, at least, making his choice. However, if Lion brings me a paddle that is too light for the job, I’ll correct his selection and he’ll got more swats.

I’ll be interested to see how often his choice of paddles lines up with what I would have picked. Knowing the punishment will be worse for a misstep, I bet he’ll choose carefully.