Trying to help daughter with new aquarium and dying fish

[mommy1]

Oh we were very mischievous children, can't say we were "bad", we weren't mean. We did break the house a few times. Cars mysteriously rolled down the driveway on occasion. Stuff like that. My children were the same. I never had to spank my oldest all that much, a talking to was mostly what she needed. My youngest, most forms of discipline were useless on her so we had to come up with more creative ways of getting our point across. They were still "good" as teenagers too, just trying that independent thing.

[gronlaura]

Probably just switched at the hospital. That's what Dad told one of my younger brothers.

You crack me up!

[KevinVA]

lol, well it's weird. He looked a lot more like me as a baby (darker skin tone and darker hair). Now he's got blue eyes, blond hair, very pale skin tone... I have brown hair, brown eyes, olive skin tone... total difference.

[Compass]

My dad has a sick sense of humor. There are seven of us. When asked how he managed to stay sane he would just look at people with a straight face and say, "I drink." Usually shut them up. lol Or when asked how he kept us so well behaved he'd say "I keep a 2X4."

[mommy1]

Probably just switched at the hospital. That's what Dad told one of my younger brothers.

Ha! We were told, "sorry, you weren't adopted, this is your real family".

[gronlaura]

We had a bottlebrush tree outside our house. If you don't know what this is the bark is incredibly rough. My grandmother would make us go out and pick our own switch off of it when we were bad. Pick one too small and she'd go out and get one and you did not want that. hahaha That only happened one time. Never messed with her again.

We had willow trees and I got it once with a willow switch. Had red welts for days. I only remember getting 3 spankings - one with the willow switch, one with my dad's belt and one with a plastic hairbrush (remember those that came in pale, pastel colors, with clear bristles?). Whatever I had done must have been really bad, as I was never hit other than those 3 times. All these years later, I still remember those 3 spankings. Usually, all it took was a look from my mom and I stopped whatever I was doing. I didn't want her to be mad at me or disappointed in me. Her opinion was very important.

[Compass]

Someone my wife knows said they had to clear their child's room out because she would destroy everything then smear poop all over the walls. Almost every day. Said even spanking wouldn't help. When asked how she spanked she said she would just take her finger and hit her on the back of the leg. That mother is in for a loooooong 18 years. lol

[KevinVA]

My dad has a sick sense of humor. There are seven of us. When asked how he managed to stay sane he would just look at people with a straight face and say, "I drink." Usually shut them up. lol Or when asked how he kept us so well behaved he'd say "I keep a 2X4."

My Dad has a similar sense of humor, but his stories about his Dad are always priceless. A couple of my favorites are:

1. My grandfather used to say, when the kids would get out of hand: "If you don't knock it off, I'm going to rip your arm off and beat you with the bloody end of it!"

and

2. He used to say: "Hey, did you know that a match burns twice?" He would light a match, "that's once," would blow it out and then touch my dad's arm with the blackened tip. "Twice."

It's no wonder my Dad and his brothers/sister have some weird senses of humor. lol

[mommy1]

Kevin that's horrible.

My father used to tell us, if we didn't behave he was gonna get all over us like ugly on an ape. That made us laugh so hard we stopped what ever it was we were doing.

[KevinVA]

We had willow trees and I got it once with a willow switch. Had red welts for days. I only remember getting 3 spankings - one with the willow switch, one with my dad's belt and one with a plastic hairbrush (remember those that came in pale, pastel colors, with clear bristles?). Whatever I had done must have been really bad, as I was never hit other than those 3 times. All these years later, I still remember those 3 spankings. Usually, all it took was a look from my mom and I stopped whatever I was doing. I didn't want her to be mad at me or disappointed in me. Her opinion was very important.

My mom's go-to was a slotted wooden spoon. Least wind resistance, you know. lol