Come on, Doc!  I ain't that old!  This took place in Pulaski County, Missouri, in 1986 or 87.  The school was physically on Fort Leonard Wood.  The year before he had had a teacher that was the best ever...go figure.

Corporal punishment is a rather general term that means some sort of physical punishment.  In schools it normally is defined as being hit on the butt with a paddle (so as to avoid "touching").  Not really very hard but degrading.  In Catholic schools the nuns would rap you on the knuckles with a ruler.  In Singapore they still punish with a cane as was illustrated a few years ago in the news.  Small kids have padded butts for the very purpose of providing a target for a well earned swat.

Toothache is my number three son.  Where the name came from I have no idea, he did it to comment on my articles without me knowing who it was.  The truth finally came out, though.  Humbordt is my number two son, his name comes from a distortion of the old "Happy Face" that he has drawn himself and named years ago.  My number one son blogs under the name Hyperborean Wanderer which I think comes from a science-fiction series he read some time ago.  MamieLady is my older daughter, it is one of the many things we called her when she was growing up.  I have another daughter I call "Boogie".  She doesn't blog, to my knowledge.  The name comes from a nickname a German girl we used to know called her baby.

they wanted to paddle me for not doing my homework. crazy.

this is a small story to my dad, but a defining moment in my life. i will never forget the faces of my pricipal and math teacher when they came in the office and saw my dad in full army-man uniform. priceless.

they left me alone to dwell on the spanking that was coming. i was scared as hell, so i called my dad at work. he was there in what seemed like less than 5 min. dad not only prevented the paddling, but it was amazing to me how quickly he took control of the room. he had those guys apologizing to him and me before he left.

like i said, a defining moment in my life, that i think about a lot. sometimes when i was a kid, it seemed like the whole world was against me. i was terrible in school. hated every minute until the day i graduated. i felt like mom and dad were on the schools side. always in trouble because of schoolwork.

that day showed me clearly that my dad was on my side. that he loved me more than he wanted me to do schoolwork. most importantly, he proved that he would stick up for me and have my back when things got hairy. not just say it, but do it.

i wish all of you could have been there. my pops is a confident, strong man. without raising his voice and getting crazy, he made those guys understand who was in control that day. no question. i was blown away. i think i was in 4th grade.

to this day, my dad is my biggest hero. not just because of this, but this is the big one when i was a kid. because of that day, i look forward to the times i can stand up and take control of a situation for my kids. i've done it with schools, teachers, and my girls biological dad. and every time, i've thought of the time my dad stood up for me that day. i do it calmly and confidently. i always get my way. not being cocky, just the facts. my dad didn't lose, he didn't let me down, and i won't either. it may sound sentimental, but its the truth. he made me feel safe and protected when i was a kid. and now i'm a confident adult.

i never got any better in school, and dad and me fought about it sometimes, but i never felt like he didn't love me over it again.

and lastly, he didn't spank me over the homework thing that night either. i think i got a pass because of the threat at school. haha.

Ruthie:  "Sorry Butt"?  I thought you didn't know him.    

For the record...Toothache has become a wonderful father, his girls and his son love him to tears.  So do I.

Jimbo:  We were always on your side...sometimes you made it harder than others.  But you were always and continue to be my son, nothing has changed except you are bigger than me now.

Well, I can say you are a chip off the old block as you reminded me of another story (just as your father does) - not with a top flight NCO, but with a full bird colonel.  I will impart that one on you soon.  Thanks for jogging some old gray cells!

I have to disagree. I was paddled many times in school and look how I turned out...well, ok, never mind, maybe a bad example.