Is the wooden spoon still the Irish mammy's weapon of choice?

lazygal

Curious to know. The wooden spoon was often threatened but rarely deployed by my mammy when I was a nipper. Is it still in use?

mikemac1

There are no bold children anymore lazygal

They have ADHD or selective mutism or some other label

The wooden spoon has been replaced by drugs

BillyMitchel

My old dear used her slipper when we got out of hand. 25 years later she probably wished she used a hatchet!

frozenfrozen

I'm still to scared to use the things

Jen Pigs Fly

OH no not the wooden spoon! I remember running away from it!

naughtysmurf

BillyMitchel wrote: »

My old dear used her slipper when we got out of hand. 25 years later she probably wished she used a hatchet!

Same here, she was able to remove, use & refit within 4 seconds, lethal she was

phasers

Nowadays they just post something humiliating on their child's facebook page

Where To

What are you crying for? I'll give you something to cry about!

amtw

A wet dishcloth flipped at you with deadly accuracy was even worse then the wooden spoon.

darragh16

Nah, they use bricks nowadays

BillyMitchel

naughtysmurf wrote: »

BillyMitchel wrote: »

My old dear used her slipper when we got out of hand. 25 years later she probably wished she used a hatchet!

Same here, she was able to remove, use & refit within 4 seconds, lethal she was

Let many of red marks! We used to run and run and she'd run after us but 9 times out of ten it would just be so funny you couldn't take it serious.

Varied

More importantly, is page 3 offensive?

2rkehij30qtza5

I was clattered with wooden spoons (some were even broken over me!) when I was a kid.
However, I would NEVER use this with my own kids now. I don't slap either. I use 'time out' techniques and they work well if not better than smacking.

Pantsface

i remember my mammy pushing the wooden spoon through the banisters to deliver a slap as i raced up the stairs in fear

wooden spoon played a big part in my childhood

Doc Ruby

Hahah, my bum kept the wooden spoon industry in business for years, may as well be battering a block. Never stopped me mum from trying though!

That sounded wrong on just every level.

Sunnyisland

For most parents physically hitting your children is out, Its all time out nowadays and the naughty step.I do wonder if a little smack on the legs would be more appropriate in some instances ?

DanWall

We used keep one in the car, it was very good for reaching the back seat, kids are all grown up now, it never did them any harm.

AhInFairness

Tea-towel flicked across the legs was my mam's favourite.

I was slapped as a child when I deserved to be and I'm all for it. Children are pandered to these days and so many of them are ill-mannered, unruly little brats. The comments about ADHD are so fecking true. Your child doesn't need drugs, he needs discipline and parents who aren't lazy gits.

no wooden spoon in my house, just pure guilt.

'the neighbours will think im a bad mother, you doing all these bold things. do you want the neighbours saying bad things about your mother?' etc etc and on and on and on........

just made me worse to the neighbours for dissing my ma!!!

cocoshovel

mikemac1 wrote: »

There are no bold children anymore lazygal

They have ADHD or selective mutism or some other label

The wooden spoon has been replaced by drugs

I have ADHD. Guess which method worked for me.

cyrusdvirus

I remember many a clatter with the spoon. One day I grabbed it off her in mid strike and snapped it. I asked her what was she gonna do now and walked out of the kitchen delighted with myself, after stopping the reign of terror of the evil wooden spoon.

That evening when dad came home from work I was called into the kitchen cos he had a present for me.

Out of a Quinnsworth (yep, that's how long ago it was) bag, out comes a brand new wooden spoon.


WORST PRESENT EVER!!

SusieBlue

My sister uses the naughty step with her kids, they're mostly well behaved. She also goes down to their level and speaks in a calm tone when they're bold, and encourages us to do the same. Her OH screamed at their son once and she made made him sleep on the couch for a week! :rolleyes:

I also think that ADHD and all those things were just invented to put labels on children. 20-30 years ago there was no such thing as ADHD or any of those things and everyone was grand, there were the bold kids, the hyper kids, and the emotional kids but they were all treated the same.

My brother has been on ADHD medication for about 8 years and there's nothing wrong with him, he was just a brazen little shít when he was younger.

mattjack

My mother was a believer in the wooden spoon method of discipline, one memorable evening one of my sisters made a run for it , out the front door.
The wooden spoon went out the door after her like a cross between a javelin and boomerang clattering her on the back of the head.

happywithlife

haha some great laughs there
i was a generation reared with the wooden spoon as well ...t'was much prefered to "the black stick" we were also threatened with ..... ouch that S.O.B. hurt .... a strip of black alakine piping straight from the farm.....

my mother once threatened my daughter with the wooden spoon -- pity for her it had no effect cos said daughter hadn't a clue what she meant :P we use time out very effectively here and although i have never used a wooden spoon i will admit to the odd slap across the bum which i do feel did no harm and made her realise there was a line she had crossed

Aenaes

The wooden spoon was always bandied about in our house. If it wasn't being used to give me and my brother a little slap then it was threatened with use and to our sisters before us.

The oven was replaced a few years ago, when it was moved back there was 4 or 5 wooden spoons there that had been "lost" over the years.

RaRaRasputin

Strange, it was actually just my granny hitting us, not my parents. Who needs a tool, why don't you just use your hands?

hairyprincess

A threat to ring the guards works perfectly here!

stovelid

Football sock with three snooker balls in it does the trick here.

Only around the body though so the public health nurse doesn't get suspicious.

Sunnyisland

hairy princess wrote: »

A threat to ring the guards works perfectly here!

When I grew up no one had a phone Had to travel miles for one

admiralofthefleet

wet tea towel was my mothers favourite and it will be mine if my son gets rowdy

Coriander

Great thread - brings back many memorable moments - even if at the time they were memorable for all the wrong reasons

Archeron

My mum used a dry tea towel for whipping. She was like Indiana Jones with coddle.

woodoo

I got a fair few batterings with the wooden spoon. And had them broken over my knees when i would try to hide behind the couch.

I think they should still be used. Brats need a quick wallop with a wooden spoon.

bnt

Your mammy doesn't have that wooden spoon any more: it's been loaned out to the Scottish Rugby Union. :cool:

Bob_the_dog

My mother used a hard plastic hair brush. I still remember doing something and running up the stairs and the mammy hitting the back of my bare legs with the brush through the banisters

My mother in law had a smiley face drawn on her wooden spoon, evil woman

FinnLizzy

I'm 20 and I think I'm of the last generation that could legally be beaten with the wooden spoon.
Also the last generation that could bring 5 year olds to a smokey pub until 1pm.

But yeah, I think there's a grey area between beating kids into good behaviour and pandering to them.

My sister is a boardsie* that posts about this sort of **** and works with kids, I'd take her advice.

*not saying who it is, as boardsies tend to root through old comments like a smear campaign!

Alessandra

Gosh the mere threat if the wooden spoon was like running a gauntlet.

If feeling particularly mischevious/confrontational I remember testing how far I good push before the wooden spoon was reached for.

If I inspired such need for discipline, I recall much merth at being challenged to outrun my rather unathletic mother.
It was always mother who preferred the wooden spoon.

I can't say I feel mistreated by receiving a rap with it. Quite frankly many of my behaviours would have warranted it. It kept me on the straight and narrow.

In school we all swapped stories of our escapades and punishments. Nothing traumatic or abusive in nature that would scar or cause injury more than a red bottom.

Children today are wanten for some discipline I feel. My sister, a teen now was so to speak spared the wooden spoon, I don't feel she has the same respect /fear of reprimands in lieu of misbehaviour.

ProudDUB

I am a child of the Wooden Spoon Generation too. It was rarely used though. The mammy perfected the art of the short, sharp wallop to that fleshy part of the back of the thigh that is EXCRUCIATING to experience. You didn't soon forget it ! But she was a patient woman who hated hiting her kids. So just before she'd reach her breaking point, she would yank open the cutlery drawer really, really loudly. The contents of it would rattle very loudly, the wood would groan and the metal of the hinges would screech. Once we heard that sound (and it could be heard from another room) we knew that we had about 10 seconds to stop what we were doing, and get the heck out of Dodge. If we didn't, Mr Wooden Spoon would soon appear. We got to be very smart about picking Option A in a damm hurry. Win, win for every one !

jefreywithonef

The sweeping brush superseded the spoon but more often than not the confusion caused by threats such as "I'll brain ya" and "I'll put your head through the wall" were enough to dispel unruliness.

byte

Wooden spoon? Pfft! The "sally rod" was PAIN!

smileyj1987

That was my nannys favorite choice of weapon when I was bold so we used to hid the wooden spoon when we went to her house . I would say the funniest thing that happened when we where young was my grandad said he would take his belt off to which i replied " if you do your trousers will fall down " . He never answered me :D

gammygils

I've had some broken across my arse!

You knew you were in trouble when you heard the cutlery drawer rattling!

Then got a rollicking because she had to buy a new wooden spoon!

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater

Marilyn Squeaking Sidewalk wrote: »

I was clattered with wooden spoons (some were even broken over me!) when I was a kid.
However, I would NEVER use this with my own kids now. I don't slap either. I use 'time out' techniques and they work well if not better than smacking.

Ah now. Far from Supernanny you were reared.

My oul one used to just shake the drawer and it'd send me running for the hills.

kelle

My son, when cheeky, gets told that 30 years ago we got the wooden spoon if we dared speak like that to our parents, or a few wallops on the arse.

Then he laughs - I don't think he believes me!

im invisible

*Christopher Walken tap dancing*

you can blow with this, or you can blow with that. You can blow with this or you can blow with that

southcentralts

For years I had never seen the wooden spoon used for anything else, so periodically I would steal it and run off and break it. Never got punished for that though...

Sappa

Was chatting to a friend about this,he said his young lad has no fear of the wooden spoon or time outs.
He's had to resort to the belt and a couple of sharp clips from this has quietened the child.
Discipline is a good thing and it's really a pity this was abolished from the schools,I remember getting dead legs of the principal in primary school or a few slaps if sent to his office,did none of us any harm.

kowloon

Parents are all too soft. I used to be glad when was given the wooden spoon. It was something to bite down on when the jump leads were attached.

3ndahalfof6

in our house we used to have regular body popping competitions trying to avoid it.

jos28

The swipe of a tea towel across the back of the legs was my Mam's weapon, it really stung. Looking back on it now it just makes me think that the poor woman spent most of her time in the kitchen. She worked so hard to keep us ungrateful brats fed and clean. Sorry Mam xxx

This ADHD argument reminds of a primary teacher I know who was told that one of her pupils had been diagnosed with 'Obeyance deficit disorder'. I kid you not - his wealthy parents spent a fortune on therapists. The primary teacher in question diagnosed him with LOWS syndrome - Lack of Wooden Spoon syndrome

Chorcai

Countless broken off me arse