Is the wooden spoon still the Irish mammy's weapon of choice?

lazygal · 22-06-2012 09:25PM #1

Curious to know. The wooden spoon was often threatened but rarely deployed by my mammy when I was a nipper. Is it still in use?

mikemac1 · 22-06-2012 09:26PM

There are no bold children anymore lazygal

They have ADHD or selective mutism or some other label

The wooden spoon has been replaced by drugs

BillyMitchel · 22-06-2012 09:29PM

My old dear used her slipper when we got out of hand. 25 years later she probably wished she used a hatchet!

frozenfrozen · 22-06-2012 09:31PM

I'm still to scared to use the things

Jen Pigs Fly · 22-06-2012 09:31PM

OH no not the wooden spoon! I remember running away from it!

naughtysmurf · 22-06-2012 09:32PM

BillyMitchel wrote: »

My old dear used her slipper when we got out of hand. 25 years later she probably wished she used a hatchet!

Same here, she was able to remove, use & refit within 4 seconds, lethal she was

phasers · 22-06-2012 09:33PM

Nowadays they just post something humiliating on their child's facebook page

Where To · 22-06-2012 09:37PM

What are you crying for? I'll give you something to cry about!

amtw · 22-06-2012 09:38PM

A wet dishcloth flipped at you with deadly accuracy was even worse then the wooden spoon.

darragh16 · 22-06-2012 09:39PM

Nah, they use bricks nowadays

BillyMitchel · 22-06-2012 09:42PM

naughtysmurf wrote: »

BillyMitchel wrote: »

My old dear used her slipper when we got out of hand. 25 years later she probably wished she used a hatchet!

Same here, she was able to remove, use & refit within 4 seconds, lethal she was

Let many of red marks! We used to run and run and she'd run after us but 9 times out of ten it would just be so funny you couldn't take it serious.

Varied · 22-06-2012 09:43PM

More importantly, is page 3 offensive?

2rkehij30qtza5 · 22-06-2012 09:46PM

I was clattered with wooden spoons (some were even broken over me!) when I was a kid.
However, I would NEVER use this with my own kids now. I don't slap either. I use 'time out' techniques and they work well if not better than smacking.

Pantsface · 22-06-2012 09:48PM

i remember my mammy pushing the wooden spoon through the banisters to deliver a slap as i raced up the stairs in fear

wooden spoon played a big part in my childhood

Doc Ruby · 22-06-2012 09:49PM

Hahah, my bum kept the wooden spoon industry in business for years, may as well be battering a block. Never stopped me mum from trying though!

That sounded wrong on just every level.

Sunnyisland · 22-06-2012 09:50PM

For most parents physically hitting your children is out, Its all time out nowadays and the naughty step.I do wonder if a little smack on the legs would be more appropriate in some instances ?

DanWall · 22-06-2012 09:54PM

We used keep one in the car, it was very good for reaching the back seat, kids are all grown up now, it never did them any harm.

AhInFairness · 22-06-2012 09:55PM

Tea-towel flicked across the legs was my mam's favourite.

I was slapped as a child when I deserved to be and I'm all for it. Children are pandered to these days and so many of them are ill-mannered, unruly little brats. The comments about ADHD are so fecking true. Your child doesn't need drugs, he needs discipline and parents who aren't lazy gits.

22-06-2012 09:56PM

no wooden spoon in my house, just pure guilt.

'the neighbours will think im a bad mother, you doing all these bold things. do you want the neighbours saying bad things about your mother?' etc etc and on and on and on........

just made me worse to the neighbours for dissing my ma!!!

cocoshovel · 22-06-2012 10:00PM

mikemac1 wrote: »

There are no bold children anymore lazygal

They have ADHD or selective mutism or some other label

The wooden spoon has been replaced by drugs

I have ADHD. Guess which method worked for me.

cyrusdvirus · 22-06-2012 10:11PM

I remember many a clatter with the spoon. One day I grabbed it off her in mid strike and snapped it. I asked her what was she gonna do now and walked out of the kitchen delighted with myself, after stopping the reign of terror of the evil wooden spoon.

That evening when dad came home from work I was called into the kitchen cos he had a present for me.

Out of a Quinnsworth (yep, that's how long ago it was) bag, out comes a brand new wooden spoon.

WORST PRESENT EVER!!

SusieBlue · 22-06-2012 10:21PM

My sister uses the naughty step with her kids, they're mostly well behaved. She also goes down to their level and speaks in a calm tone when they're bold, and encourages us to do the same. Her OH screamed at their son once and she made made him sleep on the couch for a week! :rolleyes:

I also think that ADHD and all those things were just invented to put labels on children. 20-30 years ago there was no such thing as ADHD or any of those things and everyone was grand, there were the bold kids, the hyper kids, and the emotional kids but they were all treated the same.

My brother has been on ADHD medication for about 8 years and there's nothing wrong with him, he was just a brazen little shít when he was younger.

mattjack · 22-06-2012 10:29PM

My mother was a believer in the wooden spoon method of discipline, one memorable evening one of my sisters made a run for it , out the front door.
The wooden spoon went out the door after her like a cross between a javelin and boomerang clattering her on the back of the head.

happywithlife · 22-06-2012 10:38PM

haha some great laughs there

i was a generation reared with the wooden spoon as well ...t'was much prefered to "the black stick" we were also threatened with ..... ouch that S.O.B. hurt .... a strip of black alakine piping straight from the farm.....

my mother once threatened my daughter with the wooden spoon -- pity for her it had no effect cos said daughter hadn't a clue what she meant :P we use time out very effectively here and although i have never used a wooden spoon i will admit to the odd slap across the bum which i do feel did no harm and made her realise there was a line she had crossed

Aenaes · 22-06-2012 10:39PM

The wooden spoon was always bandied about in our house. If it wasn't being used to give me and my brother a little slap then it was threatened with use and to our sisters before us.

The oven was replaced a few years ago, when it was moved back there was 4 or 5 wooden spoons there that had been "lost" over the years.