My father used the cane. My mother used slipper and cane. If my father wanted to punish me for misbehaviour in the garden he cut his own switch from the clump of hazel by the wall at the far end of the garden. I got it shorts and pants down, bending over.

What a stepfather, what rituals! I never heard of a parent growing a bush for the express purpose of switching, but then again, a woman of 19 told me how her dad bought a sleigh bed in her view for the specific purpose of having her and her sister stand at the foot of the bed and then up right over the high footboard for CP sessions, bottoms high!

I can barely imagine what being beaten with a switch would be like. I did get the cane plenty of times in school, but I think a freshly cut switch would be worse. I imagine that the extra flexibility (compared to a cane) would mean the switch would wrap around the buttocks a lot more, striking the sides of the hips and the thighs.

After a punishment from your stepfather, was there evidence visible to others; say marks lower down on your legs and showing below shorts?

Admittedly from understanding my penchant for consensual, adults-only spanking games, I can't help wondering if your step-father and others like him inflicted severe, ritual beatings for their own, hidden motives beyond genuine punishment...

@oneofnine It was the natural order and, I would suggest, none the worse for that

If you have kids did you treat them the same way?

What???🥺🤗