The primary goal, of corporal punishment in school, is to provide pain to a girl’s bottom. There are many more dynamics involved, but the reality is that most people do not like pain. When there are school policies in place, in which any deviation from this policy, can result in a young lady receiving pain to her bottom, this often influences her to make better decisions. In the old days, during a time in which parents really wanted, and appreciated, their daughters being paddled at school, it was much easier for the administrator to get the job done. The school board did not have a policy on how many swats she could receive, what type of paddle could be used, and the countless other policies that effect the ability for an administrator to simply paddle a young lady’s bottom until he felt the job was done. He could simply have her bend over, and swing as long and hard as he needed, and not stop until her bottom was bruised and she was crying sufficiently to assure a lesson was learned.
In today’s school setting, even in the schools in which corporal punishment is used more liberally, there are still a specific set of guidelines that a teacher, coach, or administrator must follow. Almost all schools define the dimensions of the paddle to be used to correct a young lady’s behavior. Gone are the days of 1” thick paddles that can get the job done in as little as three swats. Most districts are very clear on what type of paddle that can be used. Here is an example from the 2013 school policies from a 9th-12th grade high school in Alabama:
“A wooden paddle approximately 24 inches in length, 3 inches wide and ½ inch thick is recommended. Paddles with holes, cracks, splinters, tape or other foreign material shall not be used for corporal punishment”. The student shall remove any objects in back pockets and/or remove outer garments before the punishment is administered. A teacher who is “not comfortable administering corporal punishment” may ask another teacher to do it. The witness should preferably be of the same sex as the student. Parents shall be given the right to exempt their children, but “should the parent fail to notify the principal, it shall be understood that the student may be corporally punished”.
A 24” paddle in indeed an effective length, but ½” thick is just barely enough to get the job done. Just as with the dimensions of the paddle, the maximum number of “licks” that can be administered are generally quite specific. While some schools are still quite liberal with this number, such as another school policy from Alabama:
“A first office referral means 60 minutes’ detention or “six swats with a paddle”; a second referral, 80 minutes or eight swats; a third, 100 minutes or 10 swats.”
This is a pretty good policy and certainly enough to get the job done. I would guess that they do not see as many referrals to the office as many other schools, as a young lady contemplating that her very 1st referral to the school office will result in six swats to her bottom, might indeed have an effect on her behavior. But this is not a typical school paddling policy, as most schools have 3-5 as the maximum number of swats allowed. This leaves a school administrator a little limited in what they are able to accomplish when paddling a young lady’s bottom. A good school administrator, the one tasked with the issue of handling school discipline, often has to be a little more creative when it comes to the application of corporal punishment. While the end result will always be physical pain applied to a teen girl’s bottom, there are many things that they can do to supplement the actual paddling. Let’s explore some of the ways to make the overall paddling experience more effective.
Clearly, every school paddling will indeed end in the same way, with a girl’s bottom being paddled, but the path that is taken to get there can really add to the effectiveness of the punishment. From the moment she is sent from class, and walking down the hall with a pink slip in her hand, her thoughts are focused on, “will I get paddled for this”? This is what makes a school paddling so effective; girls do not want to have their bottoms smacked with a big wooden board. If they grew up in the South, where most school paddlings take place, chances are she was spanked as a kid. It might have been the week before, or it may have been ten years before, but she has enough experience to know that a spanking is not pleasant. It is the job of the administrator, who is limited by school board policies to make sure that this trip to the office, is bad enough, that she will never want to repeat it.
Many principals like to make sure that when a young lady enters his office, that she knows from the very beginning, that her getting paddled is a very real option, and one that he is likely to choose. This is best accomplished by a public display of the paddle. Some choose to hang it on the wall behind their desk, or even more effective, is to leave it on the desk, right in front of her. As she hands over her pink slip, her hand is less than an inch away from the paddle, and it becomes her entire focus. For that first minute, nothing exists in her mind except that paddle. Regardless of how strict her parents were and what they spanked her with when she was growing up, nothing seems quite as intimidating as that two foot long piece of wood in front of her. For the young lady who only ever got a smack from mom’s hand on her butt when she was a toddler, that paddle looks like the end of the world for her bottom. An effective administrator, will spend a few minutes looking over her referral and going through her school records, so she has ample time to consider exactly what that paddle will feel like on her bottom. Remember, the purpose of her entire visit to the office, is to make sure that she does not come back. If giving her some time to allow the nerves to really set in, to get her heart racing, and maybe even her hands shaking will prevent her from returning, then it should be a required part of the process. Her overall experience, and not just the paddling alone, is what she will be looking back on when making decisions in the future and the more emotions and bad memories she has of the experience, the better.
Being creative with telling her that she is going to be paddled, will also help to build an overall experience that she will do everything to avoid. The more he is able to talk about the paddling she will be receiving, the better for the experience. To simply tell her that her offenses require him to paddle her, and then to have her stand up and bend over, is doing her a disservice. As he is weighing the options, it is very effective for him to pick up the paddle and hold it. She is no longer just looking at the paddle sitting on his desk, she now has the actual visual of it in his grips, which makes it seem all that more opposing. I do not think it is out of line for the principal to reference how effective and painful a paddling really can be. Comments like “we probably could handle this with detention, but my experience has shown that you would be less likely to return to my office after you have shed a few tears”, or “there is nothing like a very sore bottom, for a few days, to serve as a deterrent to prevent you from returning to my office” tend to be very effective. She is now faced with the reality that this paddling will not only hurt, but that she will cry, and that her butt will be sore for days. If the increased heart rate and shaking hands had not started up to this point, they most certainly would now. This also helps prevent her from shrugging the whole thing off, and trying to convince herself that it will not be that bad.
When he finally announces his decision to her, that she will indeed be paddled, he needs to really play it up. It cannot come across as a casual event, but one that he has given great thought to, and as much pain as he knows he will be providing her, that it is probably the best thing for her overall development. Creative administrators are able to make all of the moments leading up to the paddling, as bad as the event itself. Informing her that he is allowed to give as many as six swats for any given offense, and that he feels that would be best for this situation, really lets the whole thing sink in. She is not only going to be paddled, she is going to get the worst case scenario paddling, and if this is explained in the right way, at for some girls, the tears may begin here. A paddling, in which she is crying minutes before it even starts, is highly effective. Once again, she will not just look back and reflect on the pain she experienced, but all of the emotions she felt building up to the actual event.
But once again, we are looking for the best overall experience (worst for her) the decreases the
chances of future transgressions, so the buildup to the paddling should not end here. Many principals would paddle her bottom right there on the spot, but it is more effective for there to be a gap before she is punished. There are some principals that administer all of their paddlings at the end of the day, or even the end of the week. This allows for hours, or sometimes days, or dread and apprehension. She gets to fully process that she will cry, she will be sore, and that she will be getting the maximum number of swats for quite some time. At the very least, he should send her out of his office, to sit in the main office, until he can find the time to take care of her bottom. She then gets to sit in the chairs, watching the rest of the students and office staff going about their daily business. Only she knows that she is sitting there waiting to be spanked with a paddle at school. She is able to think about that giant paddle, think about the last time she was spanked and how that felt, and to fully consider how she will react to her paddling. Thoughts of how hard he swings, what position she will be made to assume, and how will she survive it will consume her. The paddle has not even touched her bottom yet, and she is making promises to herself to never again, make a decision that puts her in this situation.
Another very effective approach, especially when someone is called back later in the day to be paddled, is that of actually having to hear the process take place. For the principals that bring every student to be paddled back at the same time, it becomes quite a challenge for those that have to listen. It allows everything in their mind, and the anticipation of this event, to become reality. While many schools have a policy that a student cannot be paddled in the visual presence of another student, this does not mean that other students are not allowed to hear a paddling take place. Many principals leave their door cracked, so it is clear to anyone present in the main office what is taking place on the other side of the door. It serves as a very real deterrent to other students, even those not in trouble, what happens if they find themselves in trouble. But for the young lady, who has been waiting all day, or all week to be paddled, and dreading every second of it, actually hearing it take place brings it all home. If you have ever been paddled in school, or have heard one take place, there is nothing quiet about it. Most principal’s offices are small and often made with cinderblock walls. There is not a lot of soft furniture, or curtains, or anything else that absorbs sounds. The hard crack of a paddle on a student’s bottom has a way of amplifying in that tiny office and echoing throughout the entire front office. It is not a distant and muffled sound; it sounds more like a gunshot. Even a moderate paddling has a tendency to sound like the end of the world to a teen girl waiting for her turn. With a cracked door, the sound is further carried, and as she hears each swat, she knows that her turn is coming.
But what makes the situation of her having to wait for her paddling even more effective in the
overall process, is the sound she hears after the echo of the paddle swat. Sure, guys will do their best to suck it up during a paddling, but girls are usually not quite as successful. If the principal is doing his job well, there will be a vocal reaction after each paddle swat, from every girl paddled. The girl in the chair hears the lick land, then hears the girl being paddled, gently cry out…at first. When that second swat lands, she now hears more of a muffled scream, as she deals with the very real pain of the paddling. If the principal is really doing a good and proper job of paddling, after the third swat, the girl waiting her turn will hear crying from inside the office. When it is all over, she can’t help but watch the girl who was just paddled, leave the office, with her makeup a mess, her eyes red and swollen, still wiping the tears from her eyes. Everything that she has tried to convince herself, about how the paddling will not be so bad, has all gone out the window. She now knows it will be the worst case scenario, she knows that he was not kidding about the tears, and she has no doubt from what she just heard that her butt will indeed be bruised and sore. The anticipation of being paddled is a very effective step and one that should not be ignored.
A proper and effective school paddling should not just be painful, but it should be embarrassing. At all times the girl should be treated with respect and at no point should she feel humiliated during any part of the process. But let’s face it, a high school girl will do just about anything to keep from being embarrassed and will go well out of her way to make sure she is never in that situation. So if being embarrassed is something that she will go to great lengths to avoid, then it should most certainly be part of the punishment. There are many ways that school administrators can accomplish this task. One of the simplest ways this is accomplished is through the verbal exchange prior to her paddling. When she is finally called into the office for her paddling, there can be an element in which she is made to feel like a young girl. After all, she is in trouble at school, and she is going to get a spanking for it, so why not remind her of that fact. Even better, remind her of that fact while she is still waiting in the lobby to be paddled. Embarrassment comes very quickly if he opens the door to his office, and in front of everyone present, he announces to her that “it is time for your spanking”. By calling it a spanking, and not a paddling, she is once again, taken back to that place in her childhood when mommy would give her a spanking. Every eye in the office goes right to her, as she turns 10 shades of red, and stands up and walks to his office. This is no longer the private paddling that she has been dreading, this is now a very public “spanking” in which every student that was in the office now knows about. The word of a girl getting paddled at school tends to travel fast, and before the end of the day, everyone will know it was her bottom that was spanked.
Adding embarrassment to the whole situation can also be accomplished by positioning and timing. When she walks into his office and he says “OK, let’s get your bottom spanked”, he then tells her what position to assume. Making it as easy as having her bend over his desk, does not serve the purpose well. Why give her a somewhat comfortable and stable position to be paddled in, when he can take the steps to make her feel uncomfortable and embarrassed? The very best position is clearly to have her grab her ankles. This makes her feel exposed and very vulnerable, and at the very least is not comfortable at all. This puts her bottom on display like no other position there is, and she becomes even more aware of what part of her body is about to feel the discipline. It is also very embarrassing, as she is now a grown woman, but her actions have led her to a situation in which a man can order her to bend over and to stick her bottom up into the air. There is no other situation in her life, where someone else has this type of control over her body, and as she is there grabbing her ankles, she is most definitely embarrassed that it is taking place.
Just as anticipation was created by making her wait throughout the day or week for her paddling,
this can also be revisited just prior to her actual paddling. Now that she is in the middle of his office, grabbing her ankles, bottom properly presented for a hard paddling, as much as she does not want to be paddled, at this point she just wants to get it all over with. The position itself is uncomfortable, her bottom is very much on display, and she just wants it to be over. This is the perfect time for the principal to fill out the paperwork that most schools require whenever corporal punishment is administered. This gives her a final few minutes to consider everything she has done and all of the events leading up to this moment. You can ask anyone who was spanked at home or in school, what was the worst part of their punishment, with the exception of the pain, and just about every one of them will tell you it was the last few moments waiting for it to begin. Everyone, when they know there is no escaping a spanking, just want to get it over with as soon as possible. But the high school girl with her ass up in the air, waiting for her paddling, should not be allowed this luxury, and the more time she spends grabbing her ankles and waiting, the more effective the overall experience will be for her.
Once a sufficient amount of time has passed, and it is time for her bottom to be paddled, a few nicely worded sentences can help to really bring the point home. It is very effective to remind her how much it is going to hurt. Instead of him just walking up to her and starting to paddle her bottom, imagine how much more effective the following would be:
“It is very important that you remain in position for the duration of your paddling. The only way this paddling will produce the desired results, is if I paddle your bottom as hard as I possibly can. We want to provide as much pain as possible to your bottom, but we need to limit it to that part of your body. If you start moving around, I may end up hitting you somewhere else, and that can be dangerous. With you grabbing your ankles, it is important you keep your hands on your ankles, as that helps with stability. I am quite sure that you will be crying from the very beginning, but please keep your hands on your ankles until the paddling is over, you can wipe your tears when we are done.”
For the young lady who just spent the last three minutes convincing herself that it would not be that bad, those thoughts are instantly shattered. He has made it clear that this will not be gentle, that it will hurt like hell, and that he knows for a fact that she will indeed cry. Now everything has come together, and all that is left is for her bottom to be paddled.
While everything that has led up to this moment, over the last several minutes, hours, or days, can indeed make the overall paddling experience effective, the biggest factor on whether a paddling will be an effective deterrent is how much it hurts. A principal can utilize anticipation, embarrassment, and many other elements all day long, but if it is not followed up with a truly memorable and painful paddling, then all is lost. It is also very important that the pain from the paddling does not end after the paddling. This is also where paddle selection, and more importantly, paddle thickness really comes into play. A ¼” thick paddle, when applied over jeans, does have the ability to hurt. But that pain is going to come in the form of sting, and six good swats with a thin paddle can produce a lot of sting. The downside is that an hour after the paddling, the sting is gone, and the punishment ends right there. What is the point of putting so much time and effort into providing her with an experience that she will never forget, and never want repeated, if the paddling itself was simply one minute of pain to her bottom? Teen girls are pretty good at wiping things from their minds when it is behind them, so the paddling needs to be something that she cannot just ignore when it is over.
A principal, who is good at his job, will take all of this into account, and do his best to make sure that when the paddling is over that the punishment is just getting started. This is best accomplished by using the thickest and heaviest paddle that the district will allow and by applying each and every lick with maximum effort. Each paddle swat, from the very first to the very last, needs to be applied just as hard. There is no reason for there to be some sort of warm-up, beginning with a few swats that are not as hard as the rest. There is also no reason to do what many principals do and make the last swat harder than the rest. The goal is a very sore bottom, and with a limited amount of swats to get her to that point, full force throughout is necessary and also best for her development. Also, a severe paddling tends to numb a girl’s bottom pretty quickly, so the first few swats are the ones she is really going to feel. The goal is long term soreness, but care should be taken that while the paddling is taking place that it hurts as much as possible. For safety reasons, and to provide as much long term soreness as possible, all of the swats are applied to the exact same spot on her bottom. This keeps the paddle far from her tailbone, and also assures that the part of her bottom that touches the seat is the part that ends up bruised and sore. Six to ten swats, to her sit spot, will provide the tears required as part of the learning process, and will make sure that the learning continues for several days.
Take a look at the pictures below; they demonstrate what a properly paddled bottom looks like. All of the bruised bottom below come from Realspankings.com and show the results of a proper school paddling. While we are seeing the after shots, of their bare bottoms, all of the paddlings that led to these sore bottoms were done over clothing. In all cases below, no more than 10 swats were applied.
We are now able to see the potential that a proper school paddling has to make a high school girl’s bottom sore. There is no doubt, based on those pictures, that after a good school paddling that a young lady will not just forget about the experience. A proper school paddling will indeed lead to several days of her bottom being sore. She will not walk out of the office, dry off her tears, and then that is the end of it. Instead of the sting wearing off in an hour, the sting will now be replaced with a soreness that continues to grow. As each hour of the day passes, she will begin to feel a little more pain to her bottom. Sitting will begin to become more uncomfortable as she shifts around in the hard wooden school desks, trying to find a position that feels better. The real learning begins the next day, and this is also why a hard paddling with a proper paddle is important. The morning after a good and hard school paddling, the moment that she wakes up, she is going to be reminded of her punishment. Her bottom will be the as sore as it is going to get the next morning, and instead of waking up, barely aware of the prior day’s event, the first thing she is going to think of is the paddling, her sore bottom, and what she did that earned her that prize. For that day, and probably a couple more after, she is going to be living her punishment every single minute of the day. When she sits down to go to the bathroom, she is going to remember what she did wrong. As she decides that maybe tight jeans are not the way to go that day, she will be thinking of her paddling. But the best part of her learning process will take place that day at school. The desks, which just the day before she struggled to find a way to get comfortable, are now a very real source of pain for her. It is not just uncomfortable for her to sit; it hurts in every sense of the word. The punishment she was given, even though it was the day before, is nowhere close to being over. With every beat of her heart, there is a painful throbbing to her little bottom, and she is reminded that it is best to be well behaved at school.
While the pain is ongoing, it is not the only part of the punishment that continues after the paddling. If there was any sort of public aspect to her paddling, such as the principal calling her into the office and announcing it was time for her paddling, then there is a very good chance that the word spread around school. Students love to gossip and when it comes to some cute 18 year old high school senior getting her pretty bottom paddled, you can count on that news traveling fast. Not only is she sitting in class with a sore bottom, but the other students in the class know that her butt is indeed bruised and sore. When she winces in pain, each time she sits, someone will be there to giggle a little at her. Random spanking comments will take place as she walks down the hall and her face will turn as red as her bottom was the day before. When it is time for PE, cheerleading, or whatever sports tem she plays on, there are going to be a few awkward days in the locker room. Showering or even changing in the locker room becomes quite embarrassing as she tried to hide her bruised bottom. Most of the girls probably already know that she was paddled, and everyone is going to try and sneak a peek at her bruised bottom.
A proper school paddling is about more than just a teen girl bending over and having her butt swatted with a board. When done properly, it can become an event, one that she will always remember and will do anything to never have repeated.