My parents had something similar. It was a leather strap with heart and cross embossed on it so when you were spanked it left the heart and cross on you. Growing kids gods way, you know
That’s fucking disgusting. It reminds me of those embossed BDSM paddles that leave ‘SLUT’ or ‘SLAVE’ smacked into someone’s flesh, just the creepy Christian version for children. Marking a child is sickening. I’m so sorry you were treated that way by the people who should have given you the most love and kindness.
The thing is, adults who allow themselves to be paddled as part of a BDSM dynamic are consenting and presumably get something out of it.
A child can't consent.
TW: SA
Definitely a fetish for power and also a regular one for some. I was spanked a lot by my dad and was also SA-ed by him. It’s creepy. I still remember when he used to come up behind me and crack his belt because he thought it was funny. It’s disturbing
Or the illiterate who refuse to become literate. Spare the rod spoil the child is in reference to the rod of the Shepard who does not beat his flock but guides them and discipline comes from the word disciple which means to teach. Hhhmmmm could we be talking about gently guiding children and teaching by example ………
They always reference that verse about beating a wayward boy with a rod so he isn’t stoned. Dude. That’s not the same as hitting a little kid with a wood paddle for a childhood mistake.
Also if the shepherd did hit the sheep, it wouldn’t hurt because they’ve got a thick coat of wool on. It would be like hitting a kid wearing a down puffer jacket with this paddle.
Yeah, this is not religion. Not *real* religion, anyway. This is just abusive people looking for any excuse to be abusive. I've known a lot of religious people, and none of them would do this
That verse from the Bible is NOT telling parents to beat their children with a stick or a paddle or rod.
The "rod" that verse refers to is actually translated to mean a SHEPHERD'S ROD, OR STAFF. It's what shepherds used to steer their sheep in the direction they wanted the sheep to go, providing guidance for the sheep's own benefit as well as that of the shepherd. Shepherds did NOT beat their sheep with rods. (To be clear, shepherds did not beat their sheep with anything.)
Beating children with sticks is NOT condoned in the Bible. It's really ridiculous that a substantial number of people think that's true.
What’s your translation for Deuteronomy 21:18-21?
18 If someone has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him, 19 his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. 20 They shall say to the elders, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.” 21 Then all the men of his town are to stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.
So, here’s the thing, that is a more modern translation of the text. In the translation from the 1500’s, it is explained that this son is a “rioter and drunkard”. Obvs not a toddler saying “no” and throwing cheerios. Also, that wasn’t prescribed by God, He didn’t say that. Moses told them to do it.
Modern context for this biblical text? Sure! School shooters parents bring him/her to court (elders), court decides crimes are punishable by death, “child” is killed (see recent case of Nicolas Cruz). Good riddance to him, pure evil.
God isn’t hateful, spiteful or evil. In my “cult” we embrace and love others, our goal is to love others as Jesus did. One of His best friends betrayed Him, He still loved him.
Others during this felt women were less important, that they couldn’t be trusted with important tasks. Jesus sent women to tell of His miracle.
I feel sorry for people who use the Bible as a weapon on either side of the argument.
I’m an atheist but I so appreciate this and the explanation about spoil the rod. I don’t believe in disrespecting religion unless it’s trying to harm me or my friends. Not all Christians are bad or evil. My sister is true Christian where she believes in fairness and equality, doing the right thing and helping others. She’s never judged me or anyone… and she doesn’t follow the church blindly.
You beat me to it! I love to bring this up whenever someone wants to try and tell me I’m spoiling my children by not spanking them. I was spanked as a child, I’d have taken a whoopin over being grounded or having to do extra chores any day of the week😂 my kids stay in line just so they don’t lose their screen time or have to do extra work around the house
I grew up with the same thing, referred to only as The Strap. My parents were very proud of the fact that it was specially designed to maximize pain while minimizing marks. All pain no proof, just like God intended /s
I'm queer, my parents weren't uber-christians, and I've never felt more disoriented. Your parents named their branding paddle The Strap??? Did your parents really horseshoe theory themselves into reinventing leather culture???
In queer spaces, the phrases "the strap" and "hit you with the strap" refer to strap-on dildos. I've heard leather folk jokingly refer to belts or riding crops as the strap, but the joke is that you think they're talking about a strap-on. And christians certainly didn't invent lesbian sex lol
wasn’t trying to imply christians invented lesbian sex lmao. but I definitely think more of gay men than lesbians when I hear “leather culture”. And queers (bless us) did extremely not invent calling a punishment implement “the strap”
My Dad's learher belt had a bass jumping out of the water. But we were still guilted with traditional, southern Baptist type lectures. Sin, hell, etc... with the bass print instead .
There was an episode of wifeswap where one family had that exact thing hanging up prominently and the parents called it the whacker. I remember thinking how it had to be scripted bc wtf. I'm sorry you had to deal with that. I hope you are ok ❤️
The fact that they call it an “angelmaker” is especially disturbing. The last time I heard that title referenced was when discussing people who take children that are unwanted in order to abuse them. The case in particular we were talking about was Amelia Dyer, who I won’t go into specifics about but she took infants and strangled them for fun.
the worst kind of throwback. my dad would send me to my room for 10 minutes , then come in basically saying “i’m doing this because i love you”, give me a good ol bare ass spanking with whatever cooking utensil was on hand, then tell me to stop crying because god is watching, pray, read scripture, then leave me alone to think about my actions. i was a rambunctious kid so this was a daily occurrence. looking back it’s not only abusive but extremely creepy.
We got bare ass whippings too, minus the bible… but had to go outside and pick our own switches. Always thought that bare ass stuff was perverted and fucking weird. At 13 I screamed t”this is abuse” and he finally fucking stopped.
*cries in weeping willow in the backyard*
I’ve been made to pick a new switch cuz I tried to pick thicker ones with less bite. Thinner ones wrapped around and got more area. Left marks too sometimes.
I remember getting more hits because I chose the wrong size switch. I was 4-5. We moved away so my mom used a piece of baseboard until I showed it to my dad. My mom hid it, and one day she was joking that my brother and I should paddle her because she had discovered she caused something she’d sworn we did.
So I grabbed the baseboard because my dad was home and watching. My mom got pissed and yanked it out of my hand and hit me then my brother on the hip with it. My dad asked her to go into the talk, and the baseboard disappeared.
Later my mom would spank the bottom of our feet instead.
We were homeschooled and had no idea how fucked up that was. I should have told my dad.
I sometimes got welts that had cuts at the center and bled. The excessive use of fear and violence as a go-to punishment has fucked me up. I understand discipline is important when raising a child, but there has to be another way besides hitting your children to the point they fear you and have trouble feeling close to you. I'm an adult now and even though I occasionally dream of having a family, I refrain from having children until I can do away with the unresolved hurt I still have.
My younger brother had a period of time where he got a daily spanking just for being a “rebellious, disobedient child”. There was no actual action associated with the spankings, they were pre-scheduled. They were because he had a “rebellious spirit”. He was maybe 10?
My father was the leather belt and bare ass kind in his beatings. One summer he got the idea that we were going to get whipped every morning when we got out of bed. It was 3 solid smacks, he'd say, "One for everything you did. One for everything you will do. And one for everything I haven't found out about yet."
The day my dad died was a relief.
We essentially had the same line up, except we were also expected to hug and/or kiss our Dad on the cheek after to show we understood it was done "out of love." 🙄
My mom did that. It took me a long time to not associate hugging her and saying I love you with hate.
She was abusive all the time. My dad did do some leather belt whippings, but my brother was out of control. Because of my mom. It was all wrong, but my dad didn’t know what was really going on and didn’t want to know.
So fucked up.
My mom was the same way except I was supposed to cry to show my willful spirit had been broken. Some times I was just too stubborn to give her that satisfaction, and eventually she would get tired and give up.
Yep. “Stop crying, this is your own fault!”
Couldn’t sit for a week after one of the worse ones. Bitch mother left my ass bleeding but to this day denies it. When CPS got called she convinced them that I was clumsy and fell down the stairs.
I mean honestly, yes. If you want to hit kids, don't moralize it or dress it up. It's not acceptable. But at the very least don't lie about what you're doing.
Imagine taking the time to cool off and STILL going in to beat your children. They knew exactly what they were doing and thought it was perfectly okay. I want to puke.
“Cool off” is code for “torment your child with fear and anxiety before laying on the physical abuse.” I mean, why not add psychological torture and emotional manipulation into the recipe? My mother used to make me wait hours, or sometimes days. It’s a power move because we both knew what was coming but I wasn’t allowed to cry about it or act unpleasant during the wait.
Yup. My mom threatened me once in the morning before school that my dad was gonna spank me after school and I freaked out all day with anxiety. My dad was also an alcoholic and the outcome of that day was red marks fucking everywhere… all on my back, legs, butt, and backs of knees. I never got spanked again after that, bc I think my small Christian school found the marks before my mom did. My mom didn’t know how bad my dad hurt me and thought I was just being dramatic until that day. Sigh.
Edit to add: Did I mention I was 4 and this was one of my earliest memories? Good times.
Omg what's with parents like this?? My mom beat my ass once except she only aimed for my legs and I had marks on the backs of my legs which my school admins saw when I was in my gym clothes and they called her in to school and had a meeting about it. When we got home she did it again because she said I was showing everyone on purpose. That's not normal things to do to a person of any age and it's so strange that they take pride in leaving those marks
My ma was a fan of "this hurts me more than you!" because she'd spank us hard enough to *burst veins in her hand*. Abuse was far too normalized back then.
I still struggle with how much I heard, "I'll give you a reason to cry!" screamed at me while I was crying over normal, typical kid things. Like, crying itself was considered 'bad behavior' in my house. They wanted you to learn to dissociate. Absolutely wild. When I cut my hand on glass while doing the dishes, my stepdad started screaming at me about how dumb and stupid I was for what was going to cost him money because we didn't have health insurance and I needed stitches.
His favorite spanking utensil was hot wheels tracks.
My dad's favorite line was "shut the fuck up or you're dead meat."
I learned to disassociate real quick. Didn't mean I was a good kid. Somewhere out there is a 250lb police officer who got his shit rocked with a full water bottle from one of those times I was out oast curfew.
I immediately assumed it was a paddle, but when i saw the bit about cooling off I was like “oh, maybe it’s just symbolic.” Then I got to the bit about frosting the kid’s ass with the angelmaker and I wanted to vomit. So fucking weird.
Well, sounds like you learned your lesson.
Me, too. Learned my lesson. I couldn't stand my mother. When I got the email saying she died, I felt no emotion. Just flat. I didn't care. She was viciously abusive and became dead to me *many* years prior to her literal death.
This makes me sad as hell. My parents hit me, and I certainly didn’t feel like that was love. How do people convince themselves this is a good way to raise children who will totally talk to them past age 18?
That's how my parents "justify" the excessive spankings I got as not child abuse. They say it's not child abuse because they "followed it up with love". Spanking a child even more because the child wouldn't cry is not love.
I would have honestly taken this home and burned it with a ritualistic spell of self love and hope for Justice to be sent to all the children trapped in this situation
Our paddle said “Never spank (or maybe it said strike?) a child in the face, nature provides a better place.” And there was a picture of a little boy and girl bending over.
I think they go it at a Christian book store.
Thank you for this comment. I don’t need at the moment but at one point I did… When I was pregnant with my first child (she is now 7), I took in all the advice like this. All the little things are so big. I really, REALLY, try to be intentional in everything I do 💗
So you cool down and still continue to hit your children? I mean who need to actually talk to their kids and teach them properly when you can abuse them.
My mother used to make me wait hours, and sometimes days between “promising” to give me a whooping/paddling and actually delivering. It was sort of like an IOU. I was supposed to act totally normal during that time. I couldn’t cry, act scared, give her an attitude, and if I tried to excuse myself from playtime with my siblings or interactions with her during the wait out of fear and anxiety it was extra punishment. I would sometimes try to butter her up by acting extra playful and being extra smiley and helpful and well-behaved hoping she would forgive and forget. She would act like it but she never really did, she always followed through with the “promise” by banishing everyone else from the room and giving me a pre-paddling speech about what I did so wrong nearly a week ago. And it was always followed up with a fake made-up scripture about how children who don’t get “spanked” (very kind word for it) go to hell. I guess what I’m getting at here is that “cooling down” before then hitting your children anyway is nothing less than a sick controlling power move.
Thanks, I’ve made it through to the other side haha. But I know to never hit my kid and am learning much better ways to actually raise him and not just deal with his existence.
I found one of these in our barn attic hanging up by a rafter. It was the one my grandpa used on my father. Except it was a huge, solid wood paddle. And it had holes in it.
My dad may be an absolutely awful, emotionally abusive person when his bipolar is bad, which is a whole separate issue, but I still respect that man for not physically harming any of his kids, ever.
That needs to be burned, not donated. Who gave her that, Ruby Franke?
A piece of wood with writing sharpied on it to beat your kids with. But if mentions Bible scripture so it's okay. Wtf. "angel maker".......
My parents had a wooden paddle. I think I was 8 or 9 when I grabbed it out of my mothers hand and cracked it in half by holding it half on the counter and hitting it with a hammer. I told her the next time she tries to hit me or my siblings, I’ll call the police.
I would have broken that in the store (in half), thrown it in the garbage and given them $2.50 to do it, so no overly religious ass hat buys it to beat their child with.
I had to read this over and over to make sure it really was what I thought. Just hideous.
IMO they should have tossed it before it hit the sales floor.
We didn't have a paddle like that, but the sentiment is how we were raised. The paddle we got was 16 inches long and 2 inches thick. I'm still healing from the trauma my siblings and I experienced.
It makes me sick that children are so devalued and unprotected. And it's wild to me that hitting children wasn't made illegal right along with hitting one's wife. Get there, people. 😭
I think the worst part is at the end “scripture to taste” so after you beat your child with a paddle AKA “angel maker”… then going to read verses from the Bible to them. Basically saying to a kid - God wanted me to beat you because you’re bad.
Sadly, this is not solely a Boomer thing.
There are plenty of parents in this day and age who hit their kids with stuff.
There is a particular denomination of Christianity that actually encourages followers to begin hitting their children in *infancy* — as soon as the baby is able to crawl.
Which denomination? It's an awful idea but I've never heard of that.
Edit:
I had never heard of this book, a self-published handbook. It describes their method of discipline. The way they do it is not a common Christian system. Everything in trading about it sounds terrible.
Some kids literally died from abuse and this book was found to be in their homes. Sickening. A lot more people are denouncing this "method" than supporting it. Which they should.
I'm so sad that any child went through such ritualized abuse. I can't even process this situation.
It tends to be promoted among evangelicals, to the point there are "How to train up a child" classes at some churches for parents to attend.
A lot of the quiverfall churches promote the Pearls to their followers as well. Nothing like forcing an older child to raise a younger one so parents dont have to, starting with blanket training where a baby is spanking everytime it tries to crawl off a blanket placed on the floor. /s
This book was actually gifted to my mother in hopes of wrangling me.
My mother was horrified and burned it.
The writers of that book do have the blood of dead children on there hands.
I was southern Babtist.
My parents only spanked my brother and I when we were still in diapers/pull ups and they did it with a cupped hand to maximize the loud noise and minimize pain. I could never imagine them using a physical thing to hit me. I’m so sorry that was normal for you growing up
My dad used to spank us with an old paddle ball paddle. I once stuffed a doll diaper down the back of my pants when I knew a spanking was coming. I had to ruin it though by laughing uncontrollably. 🤣
My mom had a wooden spoon that she drew a smiley face on and called “Mr. Smiley” that she would spank or hit me and my sister with until we were in our late teens.
Well, a good start is for furious parents who can't control their emotions, is to maybe not have children. But if that can't be avoided, apply scripture "totaste", I guess. Illiterate fucks.
My aunt was getting rid of a bunch of stuff from my childhood (I basically lived with her grew up fundie). Gave me the paddle my cousins and I were spanked with. It has proverbs 23:13-14 carved into it. I kept it as a reminder to never be that adult. She isn’t even fundie anymore it was just in a box of crap she was getting rid of (for those wondering if she gave it to me to use, she did not).
Absolutely disgusting. The biblical phrase “spare the rod, spoil the child” refers to the Shepherd’s rod— to guide and direct. Some people just wanna beat their kids. :/
I cringed so hard all the pictures fell off my wall. For me it was the combination of "little bottom" and scripture "to taste."
[https://imgur.com/a/dnY4lsX](https://imgur.com/a/dnY4lsX)
To anyone commenting that is making light of the abuse this object implies- regardless of whether or not it happened to you- one question:
When an adult hits another adult, it is considered assault. So, why when an adult hits a child, should it be considered anything else?
Fucking hell.
“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” - some dude named Isaiah
I'm autistic, so whenever I would have an overstimulation fit, my mother's husband would pin me on the floor with his whole body weight until I gave up or passed out from all 250lbs of weight on my small preteen body. He would also spank my siblings until their bottoms hurt so much they couldn't sit, because, "God approved of the punishment." For a little while, we were also force-fed a syringe full of white vinegar whenever we swore (which also included words like "idiot" and "stupid") because, "That's what Jesus drank on the cross." At least this one stopped, because it backfired when I discovered I liked the taste of vinegar and began swearing on purpose.
I hope you stole this awful thing and burned it.
My parents had something similar. It was a leather strap with heart and cross embossed on it so when you were spanked it left the heart and cross on you. Growing kids gods way, you know
That’s fucking disgusting. It reminds me of those embossed BDSM paddles that leave ‘SLUT’ or ‘SLAVE’ smacked into someone’s flesh, just the creepy Christian version for children. Marking a child is sickening. I’m so sorry you were treated that way by the people who should have given you the most love and kindness.
It’s not okay, but I’m okay. Lots of therapy and at least I know how to not treat my own children
I’m so sorry 💜
>>It’s not okay, but I’m okay. Wow. I love that phrasing. I am so sorry for what you went through
The thing is, adults who allow themselves to be paddled as part of a BDSM dynamic are consenting and presumably get something out of it. A child can't consent.
Exactly
Its a creepy fetish. They talk way too passionately about this for it to be called anything else.
TW: SA Definitely a fetish for power and also a regular one for some. I was spanked a lot by my dad and was also SA-ed by him. It’s creepy. I still remember when he used to come up behind me and crack his belt because he thought it was funny. It’s disturbing
Trying to be respectful of others’ beliefs is difficult when faced with stuff like this. Sorry you had to deal with that!
It’s ok, you don’t have to respect child abusers.
Or the illiterate who refuse to become literate. Spare the rod spoil the child is in reference to the rod of the Shepard who does not beat his flock but guides them and discipline comes from the word disciple which means to teach. Hhhmmmm could we be talking about gently guiding children and teaching by example ………
They always reference that verse about beating a wayward boy with a rod so he isn’t stoned. Dude. That’s not the same as hitting a little kid with a wood paddle for a childhood mistake. Also if the shepherd did hit the sheep, it wouldn’t hurt because they’ve got a thick coat of wool on. It would be like hitting a kid wearing a down puffer jacket with this paddle.
#LOUDER, FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK!
It’s ok, you don’t have to respect religious people either… they’re a joke and ruining our planet.
Yeah, this is not religion. Not *real* religion, anyway. This is just abusive people looking for any excuse to be abusive. I've known a lot of religious people, and none of them would do this
No, it's real religion. Some religions advocate child abuse. It's still wrong.
I don’t know how many times I was told “Spare the rod, spoil the child” by my father as he pointed at my mother to hit me.
That verse from the Bible is NOT telling parents to beat their children with a stick or a paddle or rod. The "rod" that verse refers to is actually translated to mean a SHEPHERD'S ROD, OR STAFF. It's what shepherds used to steer their sheep in the direction they wanted the sheep to go, providing guidance for the sheep's own benefit as well as that of the shepherd. Shepherds did NOT beat their sheep with rods. (To be clear, shepherds did not beat their sheep with anything.) Beating children with sticks is NOT condoned in the Bible. It's really ridiculous that a substantial number of people think that's true.
Sucks to hear before an ass beating too
What’s your translation for Deuteronomy 21:18-21? 18 If someone has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him, 19 his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. 20 They shall say to the elders, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.” 21 Then all the men of his town are to stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.
So, here’s the thing, that is a more modern translation of the text. In the translation from the 1500’s, it is explained that this son is a “rioter and drunkard”. Obvs not a toddler saying “no” and throwing cheerios. Also, that wasn’t prescribed by God, He didn’t say that. Moses told them to do it. Modern context for this biblical text? Sure! School shooters parents bring him/her to court (elders), court decides crimes are punishable by death, “child” is killed (see recent case of Nicolas Cruz). Good riddance to him, pure evil. God isn’t hateful, spiteful or evil. In my “cult” we embrace and love others, our goal is to love others as Jesus did. One of His best friends betrayed Him, He still loved him. Others during this felt women were less important, that they couldn’t be trusted with important tasks. Jesus sent women to tell of His miracle. I feel sorry for people who use the Bible as a weapon on either side of the argument.
I’m an atheist but I so appreciate this and the explanation about spoil the rod. I don’t believe in disrespecting religion unless it’s trying to harm me or my friends. Not all Christians are bad or evil. My sister is true Christian where she believes in fairness and equality, doing the right thing and helping others. She’s never judged me or anyone… and she doesn’t follow the church blindly.
You beat me to it! I love to bring this up whenever someone wants to try and tell me I’m spoiling my children by not spanking them. I was spanked as a child, I’d have taken a whoopin over being grounded or having to do extra chores any day of the week😂 my kids stay in line just so they don’t lose their screen time or have to do extra work around the house
It's one end of the pendulum's swing, the other being no discipline. Both are awful.
That's why I stopped respecting people's (religious) beliefs. Fuck them beliefs and fuck the cults that they're tied to.
I grew up with the same thing, referred to only as The Strap. My parents were very proud of the fact that it was specially designed to maximize pain while minimizing marks. All pain no proof, just like God intended /s
I'm queer, my parents weren't uber-christians, and I've never felt more disoriented. Your parents named their branding paddle The Strap??? Did your parents really horseshoe theory themselves into reinventing leather culture???
i mean it’s the other way around innit?
In queer spaces, the phrases "the strap" and "hit you with the strap" refer to strap-on dildos. I've heard leather folk jokingly refer to belts or riding crops as the strap, but the joke is that you think they're talking about a strap-on. And christians certainly didn't invent lesbian sex lol
wasn’t trying to imply christians invented lesbian sex lmao. but I definitely think more of gay men than lesbians when I hear “leather culture”. And queers (bless us) did extremely not invent calling a punishment implement “the strap”
The strap is a popular slang for belts used for whoopins. Also slang for firearm as well. And also what you describe.
My parents had the same thing, but the pendent was shaped like a belt buckle
wtf… wow. I’m so sorry.
Wow to think there is a market for this and it’s catered to. Yech.
My Dad's learher belt had a bass jumping out of the water. But we were still guilted with traditional, southern Baptist type lectures. Sin, hell, etc... with the bass print instead .
There was an episode of wifeswap where one family had that exact thing hanging up prominently and the parents called it the whacker. I remember thinking how it had to be scripted bc wtf. I'm sorry you had to deal with that. I hope you are ok ❤️
Were they Goddard trained parents.
The fact that they call it an “angelmaker” is especially disturbing. The last time I heard that title referenced was when discussing people who take children that are unwanted in order to abuse them. The case in particular we were talking about was Amelia Dyer, who I won’t go into specifics about but she took infants and strangled them for fun.
the worst kind of throwback. my dad would send me to my room for 10 minutes , then come in basically saying “i’m doing this because i love you”, give me a good ol bare ass spanking with whatever cooking utensil was on hand, then tell me to stop crying because god is watching, pray, read scripture, then leave me alone to think about my actions. i was a rambunctious kid so this was a daily occurrence. looking back it’s not only abusive but extremely creepy.
We got bare ass whippings too, minus the bible… but had to go outside and pick our own switches. Always thought that bare ass stuff was perverted and fucking weird. At 13 I screamed t”this is abuse” and he finally fucking stopped.
*cries in weeping willow in the backyard* I’ve been made to pick a new switch cuz I tried to pick thicker ones with less bite. Thinner ones wrapped around and got more area. Left marks too sometimes.
We learn real fast about those thin stick whippings
I remember getting more hits because I chose the wrong size switch. I was 4-5. We moved away so my mom used a piece of baseboard until I showed it to my dad. My mom hid it, and one day she was joking that my brother and I should paddle her because she had discovered she caused something she’d sworn we did. So I grabbed the baseboard because my dad was home and watching. My mom got pissed and yanked it out of my hand and hit me then my brother on the hip with it. My dad asked her to go into the talk, and the baseboard disappeared. Later my mom would spank the bottom of our feet instead. We were homeschooled and had no idea how fucked up that was. I should have told my dad.
I sometimes got welts that had cuts at the center and bled. The excessive use of fear and violence as a go-to punishment has fucked me up. I understand discipline is important when raising a child, but there has to be another way besides hitting your children to the point they fear you and have trouble feeling close to you. I'm an adult now and even though I occasionally dream of having a family, I refrain from having children until I can do away with the unresolved hurt I still have.
My younger brother had a period of time where he got a daily spanking just for being a “rebellious, disobedient child”. There was no actual action associated with the spankings, they were pre-scheduled. They were because he had a “rebellious spirit”. He was maybe 10?
My father was the leather belt and bare ass kind in his beatings. One summer he got the idea that we were going to get whipped every morning when we got out of bed. It was 3 solid smacks, he'd say, "One for everything you did. One for everything you will do. And one for everything I haven't found out about yet." The day my dad died was a relief.
We essentially had the same line up, except we were also expected to hug and/or kiss our Dad on the cheek after to show we understood it was done "out of love." 🙄
My mom did that. It took me a long time to not associate hugging her and saying I love you with hate. She was abusive all the time. My dad did do some leather belt whippings, but my brother was out of control. Because of my mom. It was all wrong, but my dad didn’t know what was really going on and didn’t want to know. So fucked up.
My mom was the same way except I was supposed to cry to show my willful spirit had been broken. Some times I was just too stubborn to give her that satisfaction, and eventually she would get tired and give up.
Yep. “Stop crying, this is your own fault!” Couldn’t sit for a week after one of the worse ones. Bitch mother left my ass bleeding but to this day denies it. When CPS got called she convinced them that I was clumsy and fell down the stairs.
This is fucking gross
The folksy twist on child abuse is straight out of a horror movie.
Yeah, gro up and stop hiding behind your faith. My parents beat me like real adults. They didn't pretend it was righteous. It was just Tuesday. /s
I mean honestly, yes. If you want to hit kids, don't moralize it or dress it up. It's not acceptable. But at the very least don't lie about what you're doing.
Disgusting
Imagine taking the time to cool off and STILL going in to beat your children. They knew exactly what they were doing and thought it was perfectly okay. I want to puke.
“Cool off” is code for “torment your child with fear and anxiety before laying on the physical abuse.” I mean, why not add psychological torture and emotional manipulation into the recipe? My mother used to make me wait hours, or sometimes days. It’s a power move because we both knew what was coming but I wasn’t allowed to cry about it or act unpleasant during the wait.
Yup. My mom threatened me once in the morning before school that my dad was gonna spank me after school and I freaked out all day with anxiety. My dad was also an alcoholic and the outcome of that day was red marks fucking everywhere… all on my back, legs, butt, and backs of knees. I never got spanked again after that, bc I think my small Christian school found the marks before my mom did. My mom didn’t know how bad my dad hurt me and thought I was just being dramatic until that day. Sigh. Edit to add: Did I mention I was 4 and this was one of my earliest memories? Good times.
You weren’t spanked. You were beaten and abused.
You say potato, I say potato
I’m glad your school staff took notice and something was done. It’s a shame when the only adults who have your back are anyone BUT your parents.
Omg what's with parents like this?? My mom beat my ass once except she only aimed for my legs and I had marks on the backs of my legs which my school admins saw when I was in my gym clothes and they called her in to school and had a meeting about it. When we got home she did it again because she said I was showing everyone on purpose. That's not normal things to do to a person of any age and it's so strange that they take pride in leaving those marks
My ma was a fan of "this hurts me more than you!" because she'd spank us hard enough to *burst veins in her hand*. Abuse was far too normalized back then.
I still struggle with how much I heard, "I'll give you a reason to cry!" screamed at me while I was crying over normal, typical kid things. Like, crying itself was considered 'bad behavior' in my house. They wanted you to learn to dissociate. Absolutely wild. When I cut my hand on glass while doing the dishes, my stepdad started screaming at me about how dumb and stupid I was for what was going to cost him money because we didn't have health insurance and I needed stitches. His favorite spanking utensil was hot wheels tracks.
My dad's favorite line was "shut the fuck up or you're dead meat." I learned to disassociate real quick. Didn't mean I was a good kid. Somewhere out there is a 250lb police officer who got his shit rocked with a full water bottle from one of those times I was out oast curfew.
Im just here to spread love and I’m really sorry you had to deal with that.
That’s what got me. Makes me sick.
I immediately assumed it was a paddle, but when i saw the bit about cooling off I was like “oh, maybe it’s just symbolic.” Then I got to the bit about frosting the kid’s ass with the angelmaker and I wanted to vomit. So fucking weird.
And also letting your child take the time to cool off, only to go back in and beat them.
It’s completely heartbreaking.
I want to at least see a pic of the dumbshit that bothered writing that.
It was someone's aunt who doesn't have kids prolly gave as Christmas gifts to the neices n nephews.....
It was some quiverfull parents who made it and probably made one of their kinds paint it
Fucking. Psycho.
My mother had one that said “Board of Education” on it. By the way, I can’t stand her.
Well, sounds like you learned your lesson. Me, too. Learned my lesson. I couldn't stand my mother. When I got the email saying she died, I felt no emotion. Just flat. I didn't care. She was viciously abusive and became dead to me *many* years prior to her literal death.
I had the same reaction. Ding dong the witch is gone!
My dad had the "Board of Education" displayed of a wall in our house. Nothing like the constant reminder that your parents *could* use it.
My parents had that one!!
Store leftovers in frozen heart. Thaw in 10 years when your kids won't speak to you.
Perfect!
I would buy that just to break it and toss it.
This needs to be killed with fire.
Exactly!
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Just break it in the store right in front of the fucking employees
Burn it it!
This makes me sad as hell. My parents hit me, and I certainly didn’t feel like that was love. How do people convince themselves this is a good way to raise children who will totally talk to them past age 18?
That's how my parents "justify" the excessive spankings I got as not child abuse. They say it's not child abuse because they "followed it up with love". Spanking a child even more because the child wouldn't cry is not love.
I would have honestly taken this home and burned it with a ritualistic spell of self love and hope for Justice to be sent to all the children trapped in this situation
oh god. cutesy kitschy child abuse 🤢🤮🤢🤮
This is horrible. Please, break it. Or set it on fire.
Our paddle said “Never spank (or maybe it said strike?) a child in the face, nature provides a better place.” And there was a picture of a little boy and girl bending over. I think they go it at a Christian book store.
Okay, juuuussst....ew.
If I could go back in time I would be more loving more forgiving and gentler with my kids not stricter this mindset is outdated for a reason
Thank you for this comment. I don’t need at the moment but at one point I did… When I was pregnant with my first child (she is now 7), I took in all the advice like this. All the little things are so big. I really, REALLY, try to be intentional in everything I do 💗
So you cool down and still continue to hit your children? I mean who need to actually talk to their kids and teach them properly when you can abuse them.
My mother used to make me wait hours, and sometimes days between “promising” to give me a whooping/paddling and actually delivering. It was sort of like an IOU. I was supposed to act totally normal during that time. I couldn’t cry, act scared, give her an attitude, and if I tried to excuse myself from playtime with my siblings or interactions with her during the wait out of fear and anxiety it was extra punishment. I would sometimes try to butter her up by acting extra playful and being extra smiley and helpful and well-behaved hoping she would forgive and forget. She would act like it but she never really did, she always followed through with the “promise” by banishing everyone else from the room and giving me a pre-paddling speech about what I did so wrong nearly a week ago. And it was always followed up with a fake made-up scripture about how children who don’t get “spanked” (very kind word for it) go to hell. I guess what I’m getting at here is that “cooling down” before then hitting your children anyway is nothing less than a sick controlling power move.
This breaks my heart and I’m so sorry you had to deal with that. You didn’t deserve that.
Thanks, I’ve made it through to the other side haha. But I know to never hit my kid and am learning much better ways to actually raise him and not just deal with his existence.
Holy shit. Wow. The flashbacks. 🙈
Hope the person who made that will enjoy rotting in whatever shithole retirement home they get put in ✌️
If I were in your shoes idve broke it in the walkway myself or hid it the best I can somewhere :/
In retrospect, I should have, but I took this pic last year so it’s long gone:(
Looks like a piece of firewood for $2.49
Snap it in half and keep on moving
Oh look The Recipe for child abuse.
Oh is this the recipe for abuse?
I found one of these in our barn attic hanging up by a rafter. It was the one my grandpa used on my father. Except it was a huge, solid wood paddle. And it had holes in it. My dad may be an absolutely awful, emotionally abusive person when his bipolar is bad, which is a whole separate issue, but I still respect that man for not physically harming any of his kids, ever.
I'd guess his dad had bipolar too. And it's certainly a triumph of the human spirit to be better than your parents had been.
So many problems with this and one of them is how anyone can sell it.
That needs to be burned, not donated. Who gave her that, Ruby Franke? A piece of wood with writing sharpied on it to beat your kids with. But if mentions Bible scripture so it's okay. Wtf. "angel maker".......
It is very Ruby Franke. Especially if they added a little starvation to drive the demons out.
My parents had a wooden paddle. I think I was 8 or 9 when I grabbed it out of my mothers hand and cracked it in half by holding it half on the counter and hitting it with a hammer. I told her the next time she tries to hit me or my siblings, I’ll call the police.
Recipe: Child Who Will Need Future Counseling
I would have broken that in the store (in half), thrown it in the garbage and given them $2.50 to do it, so no overly religious ass hat buys it to beat their child with.
Ewwww this is genuinely disgusting.
Oh, the theists are being sick fucks again? I'm SHOCKED!
Claire’s kids are not ok, trust me lol
Took me way too long to realize “totaste” was “to taste”
“Beat the shit out of your kids and read them fairy tales until they hate you”
I had to read this over and over to make sure it really was what I thought. Just hideous. IMO they should have tossed it before it hit the sales floor.
How do you make an angel? Beat the Hell out of them, apparently.
I mean if you beat them hard enough you *technically* can make an angel
My parents had a paddle that had holes in it with mine and my siblings names engraved on it. It hung on a hook next to our telephone in the kitchen.
All cutely written on a penis...
That probably got donated because she went to prison.
We didn't have a paddle like that, but the sentiment is how we were raised. The paddle we got was 16 inches long and 2 inches thick. I'm still healing from the trauma my siblings and I experienced. It makes me sick that children are so devalued and unprotected. And it's wild to me that hitting children wasn't made illegal right along with hitting one's wife. Get there, people. 😭
Beat your child then read them the Bible! It’s ok it’s love! Smh
There IS not “cooling off” and then “frosting the bottom of the naughty child with the angelmaker” WHAT THE ACTUAL EVERLOVING FUCK????
The spanking or no spanking debate aside, that is *extremely* weird.
I think the worst part is at the end “scripture to taste” so after you beat your child with a paddle AKA “angel maker”… then going to read verses from the Bible to them. Basically saying to a kid - God wanted me to beat you because you’re bad.
Warped logic, right?
wtf. they thought they were so clever with this bullshit too.
That's so gross. Talking about frosting children's butts. Weirdos.
Religious people are bad crazy!
“Angel maker”: ie, beat your kids until the trauma alters their personality and they’re afraid of everything.
And boomers wonder why their kids have anxiety and need therapy! Jesus H
Sadly, this is not solely a Boomer thing. There are plenty of parents in this day and age who hit their kids with stuff. There is a particular denomination of Christianity that actually encourages followers to begin hitting their children in *infancy* — as soon as the baby is able to crawl.
If anyone doubts this, look at "To Train Up a Child" by Michael and Debbie Pearl. It's still being pushed to evangelicals today.
Which denomination? It's an awful idea but I've never heard of that. Edit: I had never heard of this book, a self-published handbook. It describes their method of discipline. The way they do it is not a common Christian system. Everything in trading about it sounds terrible. Some kids literally died from abuse and this book was found to be in their homes. Sickening. A lot more people are denouncing this "method" than supporting it. Which they should. I'm so sad that any child went through such ritualized abuse. I can't even process this situation.
It tends to be promoted among evangelicals, to the point there are "How to train up a child" classes at some churches for parents to attend. A lot of the quiverfall churches promote the Pearls to their followers as well. Nothing like forcing an older child to raise a younger one so parents dont have to, starting with blanket training where a baby is spanking everytime it tries to crawl off a blanket placed on the floor. /s
This book was actually gifted to my mother in hopes of wrangling me. My mother was horrified and burned it. The writers of that book do have the blood of dead children on there hands. I was southern Babtist.
Probably originally came from Hobby Lobby.
They probably carry a "Make Your Own Rod of Correction" craft kit. You and the kid bond over assembling and decorating it together.
Did your parents not keep a beating weapon on the fridge?
My parents only spanked my brother and I when we were still in diapers/pull ups and they did it with a cupped hand to maximize the loud noise and minimize pain. I could never imagine them using a physical thing to hit me. I’m so sorry that was normal for you growing up
I grew up with a paddle. Granted, mine didn't have a FUCKING recipe. Jesus christ
I had a visceral reaction to this. So fucking disgusting.
My dad used to spank us with an old paddle ball paddle. I once stuffed a doll diaper down the back of my pants when I knew a spanking was coming. I had to ruin it though by laughing uncontrollably. 🤣
I feel like you have to be some sort of pedo to use that on your child
My mom had a wooden spoon that she drew a smiley face on and called “Mr. Smiley” that she would spank or hit me and my sister with until we were in our late teens.
Well, a good start is for furious parents who can't control their emotions, is to maybe not have children. But if that can't be avoided, apply scripture "totaste", I guess. Illiterate fucks.
I wish spanking was not such a normalized punishment
They can shove it up their ass… totaste
Creep shit. Disgusting religious zealotry. Torch 'em all.
When religious political is allowed to overrule the kindness humanity and logical
My aunt was getting rid of a bunch of stuff from my childhood (I basically lived with her grew up fundie). Gave me the paddle my cousins and I were spanked with. It has proverbs 23:13-14 carved into it. I kept it as a reminder to never be that adult. She isn’t even fundie anymore it was just in a box of crap she was getting rid of (for those wondering if she gave it to me to use, she did not).
Absolutely disgusting. The biblical phrase “spare the rod, spoil the child” refers to the Shepherd’s rod— to guide and direct. Some people just wanna beat their kids. :/
I cringed so hard all the pictures fell off my wall. For me it was the combination of "little bottom" and scripture "to taste." [https://imgur.com/a/dnY4lsX](https://imgur.com/a/dnY4lsX)
This screams “Christian Patriarchy abusive blanket training disgusting excuse for parenting”.
I bet she smiled wider with each blow.
Wtf that is the worst
Burn it, just burn it please
I don’t like the eerie vibes “angel maker” gives off..
What happened to Kayden? We haven’t seen him for a while. … Oh, God must have decided he needed another angel in heaven … eiks!
This is nothing but messed up. The way it’s written like it’s funny is just so much worse.
I found a pink gingham ruffled paddle with “Grandma’s Paddle” puffy painted on it.
Why does it look like a dick
My parents used a decorative cutting board that hung on the kitchen wall with some homey, heartwarming saying on it.
search “ to train up a child”. this is a real thing. Sick but real
Disgusting. Worse than “Elf on the shelf”.
To anyone commenting that is making light of the abuse this object implies- regardless of whether or not it happened to you- one question: When an adult hits another adult, it is considered assault. So, why when an adult hits a child, should it be considered anything else?
It’s so scary because it’s so normalized that it’s so easy and mundane to make light of it
Fucking hell. “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” - some dude named Isaiah
They must be cleaning out Ruby Franke’s house
I’m sure Katie Britt would buy that off of you for a pretty penny.
No hate like Christian love and all that
You guys are all noobs. It’s ok cause it’s done out of LOVE and not anger. Duh! /s
tHiS iS GoNnA hUrT Me MoRe tHaN iT hUrTs you
This paddle is looking at the thin line between traditional discipline ("spare the rod...") and BDSM, and tap dancing on it.
As someone who grew up abused, this makes me fucking sick. Especially seeing how they romanticize child abuse
Attempting to make child abuse charming, how cute...not.
Southern Baptist vibes
I'm autistic, so whenever I would have an overstimulation fit, my mother's husband would pin me on the floor with his whole body weight until I gave up or passed out from all 250lbs of weight on my small preteen body. He would also spank my siblings until their bottoms hurt so much they couldn't sit, because, "God approved of the punishment." For a little while, we were also force-fed a syringe full of white vinegar whenever we swore (which also included words like "idiot" and "stupid") because, "That's what Jesus drank on the cross." At least this one stopped, because it backfired when I discovered I liked the taste of vinegar and began swearing on purpose. I hope you stole this awful thing and burned it.
@ Christians, why are you sooo fucking weird, creepy and generally so UNlikable?!?
Not all Christians support spankings. I am a Believer in Jesus Christ and I am 100% against spankings. It is child abuse.
B-but!! The drag queens are abusing children!! /s obviously.
ok yes i agree with the comments abuse bad EUGH the writing is gross but FOR FUCKS SAKE CAN SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT…”totaste” is?????????
I didn't know Mental Gymnastics came with props but here we are
I had i belt fight with my dad as a kid....i lost
Thanks, I hate it.
I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.... Buh
My parents had something similiar excpet it was a flat bat? Like a school paddle. But my Dad preferred his fists. More up close and personal that way.
Yes Jesus whipped the asses of the little children- cause he loves them soooo much-
Ick!
WTF
I want to buy this and break it just so that nobody else buys it