Sometimes it seems that Mrs. Lion and I are reinventing domestic discipline. Of course, we aren’t. We do seem to need to learn by experiment. Most recently, we both felt that a full-scale spanking seemed out of line for relatively trivial offenses. To try to fix that, Mrs. Lion instituted less severe retribution for those misdemeanors. They include standing in a corner, sitting on the punishment stool, and getting my mouth washed out with soap.

Sadly, I don’t think they are very effective. I agree that it seems unfair that I receive a strong spanking for spilling some food on my shirt. But that’s just because we have a sense that there must be some sort of equity between the severity of an offense in the retribution it earns. I don’t think that’s correct for me.

If the objective of rules and retribution for breaking them is to educate me to avoid those behaviors, the punishment has to send the message that I should not repeat my offense. Getting my mouth washed out with soap or spending some time on my punishment stool apparently doesn’t send that message. Spanking does.

Take, for instance, forgetting to remind Mrs. Lion of punishment day. I’ve regularly forgotten to tell her that Saturday is one of her punishment days. Only after I received a strong spanking, was enough of an impression made that I now work hard to remember. In other words, regardless of how unfair it might seem, a sore bottom is the best way to teach me. If I forget again, I need a refresher course.

Apparently, I’m binary when it comes to punishment. It only works if it’s a long, hard spanking. Anything else has little effect on me. I also think that Mrs. Lion is happier when she gives out binary punishment. After all, a rule is a rule and it must be obeyed. One might seem less important than another and I suppose in the scheme of life offenses certainly have varying weights. However, in our context, anything deserving the attention of becoming an enforceable rule merits the application of severe punishment for breaking it.

At least for me, in order for there to be a real behavioral change, I need two things: First, completely consistent enforcement. I don’t learn very well if exceptions are made. This puts a burden on Mrs. Lion to consistently observe and punish offenses. Second, the punishment has to be meaningful to me. Since I am an adult and I enjoy play spanking, punishments have to be especially severe for me to make the correct educational connections.

This has nothing to do with cruelty or severity. It’s a simple fact that unless a spanking rises to a certain level of discomfort, I’m not going to take it seriously enough for it to motivate me to change. Experience has taught us that. If I am sufficiently unhappy after a spanking, I will be much more careful to avoid earning another. If I’m not careful enough, obviously I need stronger motivation.

For a long time, Mrs. Lion resisted this line of thinking. More recently, she tried giving me consecutive days of spanking as a more serious punishment. It was on the right track but after a couple of days, both of us forgot why we were doing it. The most recent idea is that a minimum spanking lasts about five minutes. Given Mrs. Lion’s skill that’s plenty of time for me to be sorry. More serious offenses earn longer ones. We have yet to get to a longer spanking.

This isn’t entirely due to Mrs. Lion being lenient. My bottom tends to bleed after a while. It appears that the skin just cracks. I’ve been applying skin softening cream to my derrière. My most recent spanking had nearly no pleading at all. I just need to remember the daily skin treatment regime. Maybe I need a rule for this.

The bottom line is that we are all different. Mrs. Lion is learning what does and doesn’t work when she needs to punish me. The more effective she is the more rapidly I learn what I need to know. I guess we could call it the school of hard swats.

2 Comments

    1. Author

      Yup. I was referring to blood. Pleading is pointless. 🙂

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