[SharkAttack]

Still a decent thread because it sort of brings together some past issues the older members of this club have perhaps gone through and current ones that our younger generations represent, similar or not. I was raised proudly as a Livia and now parent like an Ammi. Took a few wooden spoons to the backside at a young age, perhaps 7 or 8 (twice or thrice) and one lethal smack straight across the face at 14ish when I said something to my mother at the dinner table about the food she had painstakingly prepared, that was so well-deserved that I would have smacked myself if I had said it now. It was the only time she had lain a bare hand upon me, and the last. She cried for about a week afterwards. In fact, it was me giving apologies afterwards.

Nowadays, it's me talking the kids down from the ceiling, at times, and there is *so* much talking. My God, we talk things through like marriage counselors attempting to repair failing unions. I do sometimes think a light smack in the backside would work wonders, but I don't do that.

Also, the smack across the legs after the near-accident of losing your child to traffic is entirely different. It's like "I DONT *********G want to lose you like this, here or ever, don't ever go out like that again!!" There's more love/fear/adrenaline in that than anything. I *want* that kind of a parent.