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In reply to the discussion: Warrant issued for arrest of Vikings' Peterson (Trigger Warning: Graphic description of child abuse) [View all]Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)but that's just a stick...
A proper "switch" is picked off a tree or bush with long, green flexible branches so you get that "whiplash" action to it...(i.e., a Weeping Willow tree or something similar provides very durable switches)...A good rule of thumb is the switch should have a medium-high pitch 'whistle' when waved in the air with little effort...
And parents *never* pick out switches -- The offending child is always made to do it as an added layer of humilation...
Yes, I'm African-American, and yes, I was raised in the south by parents who were also raised in the south...Personally, I preferred the switch to the belt, because there was always this latent fear in my mind that I might cross the line and anger my father to the point where he would use the buckle end of the belt (For the record I never, ever got the buckle; but I'd heard stories from schoolmates who got it in their homes and I wanted NO part of it...)
I'm surprised to see this still going on since parenting in the U.S. has become much more enlightened since I was a kid...I just turned 38 on Thursday, and I thought I was the tail end of the last generation to even know firsthand what a switch was, aside from a few deep backwoods folks still clinging to the old ways...
It's funny how much "expertise" I remember about this...My parents were in no way abusive; they were worldly, highly educated professionals and I can count on ONE hand the number of times I received physical punishment...I can say it does leave a searing memory...