Lol what a story, this brings so many memories specially the koboko sticks, my mother used those and the fear of what those sticks can do, kept me from alot of trouble. She also used the switch (the tender limb of a tree, its size and width vary) Mother was very strict and had told us not to stay past 7 pm. When you are young and theres some kind of fair or entertainment one forgets, such was the case with me in that particular summer day of July 1974, I was 6 yrs old. I forgot about the time, it wasnt until 12 midnight that i remembered. The dread i felt upon returning home, i knew my mother was going to spank me and just the thought was agony. That night i got the hardest thrashing of my life, my screams could be heard in the heavens (my mother hit very hard), i promised il never stay late again, while she continued whipping my backside. The following day i couldnt sit, such was her wrath. Needless to say I never stayed late after that incident. My mother was a strong disciplinarian but she also loved us. After my corporal punishment came the reconciliation time, i had to get up and embrace my mother, sometimes i was not so willing to do this as the pain on my posterior was still fresh and burning but i did not want a repetition of her wrath for my defiant attitude, so i swallowed my pride and gave my mother her embrace. To this day I could never hate her no matter how many whippings i received from her. She raised me and the rest of my 8 siblings (4 girls, 4 boys) with the bible in one hand and the hickory switch on the other (she was a firm believer in applying "the rod of correction" and we felt its sting when we were out of line) While everyone else was doing drugs, stealing, getting into gangs, going the wrong path. We were in church, going to school, helping around the house and respecting my mother. If we erred to the wrong ways, the sting of that switch would immeditely redirect the behavior. My mother raised us all by herself she became both father and mother to us when we were young. I will forever be grateful to her.