It often seemed to me that such an approach would have made my own public education far more effective and vastly more entertaining. Being of a studious bent I was not much given to misbehaving, but if lithe young ladies had hauled me over their laps, I would have been a hellion at once. Better still, if only the older boys were obliged to spank the younger girls. Well, that’s a bit silly to hope for I suppose, but it might have cut down on their continual impudence a little — or perhaps have increased it.

@Serenity Thanks for the link to that earlier post–so awesome. So sorry you had to suffer an exhaustive dragging around HFMGV.

@Natty Wonder if you might share some of that pre-Natty narrative one day…?

@Indy I eventually came to view the Fitzgerald parents as rather emotionally cruel with their Silent Treatment. Give me the whack any day, even non-sexualized.

@Eliane @Graham @Viola it is never too late to make up for a poor childhood.

Love the bathtub – must try to get one.

As for the Little House books, there are more whippings to struggle through. We’ve only read the first book, and that link was to what happened the second time we read it to her (she doesn’t remember the first time so had to start over). The first time? I had to tell her what a spanking was – she didn’t know. It was traumatic for me! (http://serenity.kinkyfirehouse.com/?p=311)

Thanks for the mention.

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You have no idea idea (well, okay, you probably do) how many hours I spent looking at that picture of Mr. Standish paddling Tom when I was a kid. Eventually I decided that Mr. Mayer drew it at the wrong angle – much to my disappointment – but it still fed my imagination for years. I still have my copy of The Great Brain, tattered and taped together with Scotch tape. I’ll be unpacking it soon, having just moved and all, and may just keep it out to read yet again.

What a delightful story about your field trip with Mr. and Mrs. Sweet! A great mixture of tension and comedy. On the Oregon State Fairgrounds there is an old one-room school house that was moved there many, many years ago. It was my favorite exhibit whenever we went to the State Fair, though friends and family members accompanying me never wanted to hang out there nearly long enough to satisfy me (I mean, who the hell cares about amusement rides when you have a *real* one-room school house, right?). But I have spent quite a lot of time there in the main proto(pre?)-Natty narrative that’s been running in my mind since 13 years old or so.

Thanks for a fun post to return to the Internets with.

WTF WHY DID I NEVER GET TO DO THAT???

You’d think, out of the approximately nine thousand field trips I had to take there as both public school student and Girl Scout, we maybe could have done the Old Timey Schoolhouse Reenactment at least *once.* I’d hear people talk about it, too… Grrr. The great bitterness of my childhood!

1) I recognized the Mr Standish spanks Tom picture even when my blog reader showed it from Mr Standish’s neck up. I loved those Great Brain books, and there was always plenty of talk of whipping even though TD’s parents didn’t spank.

2) I would have reacted exactly the same way you did to the Sweets’ theatrical performance.

3) I can drive there in a day. When’s the field trip?