It’s hard to believe that parents used to dole out punishments like it was no big deal. Punishments that went beyond the realm of “no phone” (this was before cell phones, ye millennials!) or “go to your room.”
In fact, punishments that bordered on child abuse have always been the norm up until the last several or so decades. A recent thread posted by u/yogokitty on AskReddit posed the following question: “What’s the most strangely unique punishment you ever received as a kid? How bad was it?”
We omitted some of the responses that moved the border from “semi-abusive” to “totally abusive,” and instead focused more on the “unique” aspect of the question. Here are 25 of the strangest ways people were punished as kids:
1.
Forced to smell dog breath. Because “If we have to deal with the filth from your mouth, you have to deal with the filth from its mouth” It sounds funny, and it is funny looking back on it…but good god it was not funny then. I begged for almost anything else.
2.
My parents would make my older brother and sister chose one of the Encyclopedias, turn to a random page, and start copying everything down until my parents told them to stop.
3.
In high school my friend got caught smoking weed by his mom. His punishment was that he had to tell his 95 year old strictly religious great grandmother, who thinks weed is just as bad as heroin.
4.
I threw a ton of glitter on my brother when he was in the bath tub. My parents bought a giant bag of glitter and dumped it on my bed. They made me count it and would not give me my phone or laptop back until I did. In Catholic school, a nun made me go out back in the convent and cut her grass with a pair of scissors. My thumbs were bruised for a week and hurt for days.
5.
When I was 5 or 6 (def old enough to know better) I bit my older sister directly on the stomach. Left top and bottom teeth imprints it wasn’t something minor. Mom grabbed a dog collar and leash then tied me to a doorknob for several hours. “If you act like a dog you get treated like a dog”.
6.
not sure how unique it was. But we would always be grounded from our rooms not to our rooms. It was the worst, you dont realise how much is in your room until you arent allowed to go in it.
7.
My sisters and I would have to memorize passages from Shakespeare together. It was horrible to be fighting and then sit together for half an hour or more memorizing and reciting until my dad returned. One wrong word and he’d leave us for a while. Probably the worst part is it made me hate Shakespeare. I’ve had corporal punishment and all that but this stuck out.
8.
My dad made us all go to the back of a 45minute line at the theme park because i was being impatient and bratty.
If anyone complained about dinner or how long it took to cook they would eat after everyone else.
9.
I had to kneel facing a wall while pulling my ears and if my ears weren’t red enough when they came to check on me then I had to stay there even longer
10.
My dad once grounded me and in order to be free and able to hang out with friends I had to complete a 1000 piece puzzle.
