Why do nearly all of us have a story like this where a parent inflicted a beating on us?

(I know for some, unspeakable things have been endured.)

But maybe it wasn’t awful.

Maybe it was mostly verbal abuse.

Maybe it was a single sentence – or a single slap – that rings through the years.

Parenting is hard. Amiright?

Goodness, I don’t want my kids to remember me in a situation like this…

Let’s shoot for disciplining our children (calm teaching) and not punishing them (uncontrolled lashing out).

That evening, his mood was ominous as we indulged in a rare family treat, eating our Birds Eye frozen TV dinners in front of the television. My father muttered something to me, and I responded with a mumbled “What.” He shouted, “You heard me,” thundered up from his chair, pulled his belt out of its loops, and inflicted a beating that seemed never to end. I curled my arms around my body as he stood over me like a titan and delivered the blows. The next day I was covered in welts and wore long pants and sleeves to hide them at school. This was the only incident of its kind in our family. My father was never physically abusive toward my mother or sister and he was never again physically extreme with me.

-Steve Martin, Born Standing Up (Amazon)