[LSPoorEeyorick]

Bob, wishing your wife good health.

On the topic of parental punishment... I very rarely received physical punishment, which I appreciated because my mother had rage issues and I fear for what would have happened to my siblings and I, had she not broken the cycle of physical abuse in her family. She was always very proud to have broken that cycle, and urged us to break the cycle of verbal abuse with our own children.

I rarely needed to be punished, because I very much did not want to be punished. I was frequently on the receiving end of her verbal rages (directed at whoever was nearest, during times of stress - hostessing, holiday or vacation prep especially.) Having experienced that, and having seen how she came down on my mischievous older brother, I knew how much rage she was capable of releasing when someone hadn't even done anything to deserve it. And it made me very, very eager to please. You probably see the results of this in me still today.

Once she dealt with what was causing all the rage (she's a survivor of all kinds of pretty terrible abuse at the hands of her family) she was very clear about mistakes she'd made, and very apologetic to us as adults.