Yesterday my Aunt
barged into our place infuriated. It is not every day that you get to see a woman
as calm and composed as her, all red and fuming. Without as much as a warning,
she began pacing on the verandah
mumbling “How can they hit their child.
He just broke a few glasses. Kids do that! Why would she hit him! My own friend
hitting her child!” And in my mind, this was going on, “Why is she making such a fuss? The kid deserved a tiny hit”.
I was hit a few times as a
child and to be quite frank, I totally deserved every single hit. Whatever I am
today are due to those fantastic hits. My Dad never hit me on my face but regularly
gave me a spank or two on my hands or my feet while my mother believed in
punishing me by pinching me below my arms. I know I deserved every single hit.
They were painful but never over the top brutal and only hands were used in the
process. No, this did not make me hate my parents or be afraid of them. They
knew their limits.
I was a bad child. From
hanging on to my father’s foot until he got me a Cadbury’s lollipop, to
threatening other kids that my father would hang them on the ceiling fan while I switch
it on, to making a picture of a mango
when asked to draw a globe, I had a lot of issues. I was not someone who
listened to words of wisdom and I was certainly someone who loved making faces
every single time someone asked me to not to litter the place with pieces of
paper. I was a nightmare and my mother still reminds me of it. I was a mess and
the only language that got communicated to me was a little spanking now and
then. They tried everything. The made me go to my room and stay put all day,
only to find the walls used as a slate to draw figures that looked demonic.
They reprimanded me by taking my toy truck away, only to find me play with a
toy that my parents do not remember buying me. Turns out, I was into childhood
kleptomania restricted to toys and teddy bears. I was the child every couple
prayed against.
I remember how once I
asked my mom to make me an Omelette, an omelette that was as thin as paper
because it reminded me of Paper Dosa.
My mother tried, only to find me rejecting the 5 omelettes she made. My Dad
came and awarded me one good smack on my buttocks and then asked my mom to make
me another omelette. I don’t know if it was paper thin but I do remember eating
it. It was bloody tasty! I can still remember the day when my Dad ran behind me
in his lungi and Baniyan until I somehow managed to wriggle under the bed but got
stuck midway because of my monstrous belly. The spank on my bum could have been
mistaken as someone playing a congo. That incident gave me a good handwriting.
Don’t ask me how.
But hey, don’t you dare
call my parents monsters. They never hit without purpose and their hits were
not the kind that would leave massive marks. Also, all the spankings were
forgiven when my Daddy would later take me, on his white vespa, to have a ‘Top N Town’
Cornetto Ice-cream in Butterscotch flavour. Thus, spanking also made me go fat.
There is nothing wrong
in spanking your child now and then. I have nothing but respect if your child
was born as someone who weeps just by a slight rise in your tone but I was not
that kind. I was a problem child, who always brought out a defensive smirk on
my face whenever I was scolded. Who wouldn’t want to spank that!
I am not promoting
violence here or abusing your children to the point of brutality. I know people
who use iron box, belts and chairs to hit their little ones and these people
need to be behind bars. But for all the others, who are waiting for their kids
to outgrow their bad behaviour with age or to build a character on their own,
while they try in vain to change them words, my answer is ‘SPANK THEM’, but
never too hard. Cruelty should not be seen as a path towards disciplining your child.
My brother was never
hit because he was the kind of kid who would cry buckets on receiving just a
scornful look from my Dad. If your child is like that, you my dear are the
chosen one.
But if your child is
like what I used to be, you now know what to do!
P.S- This is just a
personal blog. Expect nothing. I have no creative writing skills. J
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