The Perfect Punishment: The Pinch

Sometimes Mark and I joke about how we're going to discipline our kids. Spanking, force-fed meatloaf, put them on the roof of the house until they promise to be good.... so many methods to choose from. My Dad had the perfect parenting method to make any child be well behaved. It caused little effort on his end, and fear of being bad on my end. To some spanking is too harsh, but just talking and reasoning with your children will cause them to behave like hellions. My loving Father's solution: The Pinch.

I love this picture of my Dad. The outdoors and bacon, two of his favorites. 

I'm not sure if you're familiar with the specifics of pinching, but the smaller the pinch, the worse it hurts. Bigger consequences = little, but more painful pinches. Now, the punishment was not the pinch itself. The punishment was the fact that my Dad remained in his book-reading chair while I had to walk to him to receive the pinch. It was complete torture. Knowing if I walk forward I'm going to get pinched, but for every second I remained where I was, the inescapable pinch was just going to be smaller. Remember: smaller = more pain.

To cope with the dreaded pinch walk, I would perform this wacky dance. I stuck my arm out, looked away as if I was getting a shot at the doctor, and danced up and down like a crazed Irish man doing a jig as I neared my doom. And then...... pinch. It was over. The pinch was not that bad, but the build up to getting the pinch was more than I could almost bear. This method of disciplining was brilliant on my Father's part because it made me the perfect child. Ok maybe not perfect, but I guarantee it was several weeks before I would do something dumb enough to have to take the dreaded pinch walk again. 

This method is tested and guaranteed to work and kids, teenagers, and 20 year olds.

There are many things my Dad has taught me that I will never forget: how to survive in the wilderness, how to spend and save money wisely, how to gut a fish, how to enjoy learning and why it is so important, how to play chess, swim, ride a bike, drive a car, and how to be a great parent!