Did anyone ever get spanked with a switch? What exactly is a switch?

Question

Was reading a book, and in it, the kids get spanked with switches when they misbehave. I think it is a southern punishment. best answer gets 10 points.

Answer 1

for me the switch was a branch off of the apple trees in our yard.long and thin

Answer 2

Spanking With A Switch

Answer 3

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RE:
Did anyone ever get spanked with a switch? What exactly is a switch?
Was reading a book, and in it, the kids get spanked with switches when they misbehave. I think it is a southern punishment. best answer gets 10 points.

Answer 4

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Hmm, well basically, for me the switch was a branch off the trees in our yard long and thin. I remember, I was about 12 and my sister was 14. We got in an argument and it became violent, she pushed me, i pushed her etc. My father saw us fighting and made us 'go cut a switch'. We picked the thinnest 'switch' we could find, but we didn't realise that the thinner it was - the more painful it felt, because it was less flexible and more whippy. Anyways my dad spanked me with it 12 times. My sister got 14. Obviously, how old we were = the amount of slashes we got. It stung beyond comprehension. Yeah, we cried, yelped, it left marks and it hurt like hell. But we did learn a lesson. That was the last time we ever got spanked. In my childhood i think i got spanked about 5 times, with the switch maybe twice. But i'm a successful lawyer today, my sister is an accountant. I can thank my parents for raising me well, they were loving parents who knew how to raise kids and discipline appropriately when required. I admire them for that, they weren't scared of doing what they thought was best for us.\ I'm not really old, i'm only in my early 30s, so it wasn't really too long ago when this happened (early 90s?). I have kids of my own now and i wont use a switch to discipline them, but I understand that strict discipline is a necessity for raising children, something that parents these days have absolutely no sense of whatsoever.

Answer 5

Wooden Switch

Answer 6

The comments above are right, its a branch off a tree that's a bit flexible, I guess its similar to a cane if big enough. I got the switch a few times, the worst time was when I was 14 and told to go outside and cut a switch to be whacked with. Being stupid i came back with a small twig - BIG Mistake!! Dad went outside to get one and came back with one that must have been a meter long and very thick, and got a heavy, long and painful thrashing on the bum.

Answer 7

When I was very young I lived with my grandparents (while 2 years to 7 years old). My grandparents where very loving and wonderful people doing for me what my mother (single divorced female) could never do for me. My grandmother was especially good to me between the ages of 2 thru 4. However after the age of 4 I started to get a little head strong and push the limits of her good natured heart. She has raised 4 boys and a girl (my mother) thru the depression and needless to say knew the rope with respect to raising unruly kids. I came in from play one afternoon (at about 5 years old) for lunch and found her with a willow switch in her hand. I ask her what was that for and she said it was Mr Willow switch and he didn t like heathen boys. Being a heathen boy in training about two weeks later I got to meet Mr Willow. Mr Willow and Grandma made a big first impression needless to say. So much so that all she had to do was say the name Mr Willow, or Point to the top of the ice box where he lived. She only used it once more before I was 8 and I have to say grandma and Mr Willow made me a better man in the years that followed. I love you Grandma where ever you are and I hope Mr Willow stays on the top of the ice box there!

Answer 8

Oh yeah. Not only that, but I used to have to march up the road and pick out my own hickory switch. Its basically a small flexible branch that can be used without breaking (paddle, stick). Being so thin, it hurts alot and can draw blood. I'm sure it was a time-honored tradition in my family and was used on me until I was 10 or so. I remember my Grandmother drawing blood on my sister's legs with one once. After that, we stayed well out of her way. I'm not even in my 30's yet, so its not something that went away 50-100 years ago. I bet some families still do it. Fortunately mine doesn't.

Answer 9

I think my parents used a switch on me one time when I was young. It is actually a thin branch taken from a tree. It is usually only about 1/4" thick but it stings pretty good. Sometimes kids were told to get their own switch from the tree which was supposed to make the punishment even that much more foreboding.

Answer 10

A switch is a straight branch cut off a tree or shrub that is used for spanking. It is usually use cut right before it is to be usd, so it will be flexible, and then any twigs or leaves are removed. It is usually several feet long, and maybe a quarter inch to a half inch thick. Switches are usually only used when freshly cut, because they will soon dry out and become brittle. When they are fresh they are somewhat flexible and whippy, and will not break easily. I do not know if it is a southern punishment. I think switches were a common spanking implement all over the country in the olden days, but they are out of fashion nowadays. I'm sure some parents still spank with them, though. My parents used to spank me, but never with a switch. They used either their hand or a wooden spoon. I've spanked myself with switches, though.

Answer 11

I was born / raised in the South.

I was also "switched" a few times. With greenish, thin branches or even willow tree branches. Picked them myself till one day I picked the "wrong one" (ie thought I was trying to be smart & get a little wimpy one) Long, thin, straight, green, and very very stingy. Left welts on me for a few hours to 2 or 3 days.

Actually that's considered "child abuse" these days, if a mark lasts more than 24 hours...

Not sure if it's exclusively a Southern thing, however it was told to me at the time that it was indeed a Biblical thing to "drive foolishness" far from the heart of the child with the "rod of correction"

Personally I don't feel that it's a useful tool, at least it was not in my case. It never occured to me to change my behaviour and thus avoid punishment, as I'd often get spanked for something else anyways.