I knew a few JW children who were beaten by their parents for various non-performance issues e.g. Not remembering scriptures, not giving talks ...
Did this happen to you?
As a JW child, were you physically punished for non-performance?
by biometrics 8 Replies latest jw friends
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WTWizard
I saw it happen occasionally while I was out in field circus. While I was out there, I would see one child (around 8 years old at the time) that was out every damn day of his school vacation. His mother signed up to be an auxiliary pious-sneer that month, and got around 40 of those hours doing this rubbish. Usually his spankings came for things like playing with sticks, making too much noise, or not wanting to stay out in field circus all damn day. And this included when such interfered with their giving a presentation at the door.
Anyone that would make their children waste their whole February or April vacation or Christmas vacation out in field circus so they can pious-sneer is definitely abusing those children. And I don't know if part of having them stay out all damn day instead of doing 2-3 hours at a time is because they "need to learn to place those rags" or to teach them a lesson that they need to do better in the Theocraptic Misery "School(??)".
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Bubblegum Apotheosis
No, my Mother was cool! She lambasted the C.O. for being an asshole, when others viewed them as gods.
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talesin
I was physically beaten for pretty much everything ... can you define "non-performance issues" ????
j/k ,,,, our KH had a policy of beating kids for being kids, so it's hard for me to tell the difference.
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mrsjones5
I got pinched a few times for not raising my hand during the Sunday rag study but mostly I got a lot of dirty looks
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TOTH
My folks were not so hard on us until we got into our late teens. THEN, because of pressure from the overlords for us to join the school then to get baptized we got pressured in turn. The physical stuff happened when we were little. But we got the shit knocked out of us at home. Even if that meant leaving the meeting EARLY...LOL
We got it usually for laughing and playing or maybe just talking. We THOUGHT we were talking quietly, but alas we could be heard and my mom would look at us with a smile then make that TISK sound. We KNEW our collective ass was grass when we got home. And we cried ALL THE WAY HOME too. Hoping it wouldn't happen but we got the belt as soon as the front door to the house closed behind us. The belt or my dads woefully accurate right foot right on our asses.
SOME kids got it right at the hall though. Sometimes I felt bad but other times I couldn't help it and I would laugh because we could see through the colored translucent windows on the side of the hall. Sillouettes of angry moms and dads wailing the shit out of their dancing children was either sad or funny, depending on the day, the size and shape of the participants, and the sounds made. I know, pretty messed up of me to laugh, but I was only a kid and some of the kids were shitty to me. LOL
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biometrics
@TOTH
Sounds like you had it bad. The worst parent I remember was a single mother who beleived she was "Anointed". She had two boys, the eldest was my age. She was a mean woman. Her boys would get whipped for almost anything, but the worst beatings were for non-performance of a spiritual nature.
My dad wasn't "In the truth", but my mum was. I often remember getting pinched during meetings. Usually for not sitting still (for two hours). I'm sure if dad wasn't around I would have got it worse when we got home.
My fondest memories of the meetings, was when mum let me stay home with dad.
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mythreesons
YES! My brother and I both used to get taken to the back and were beat in the bathroom because of the following reasons:
1) We didn't turn to the scripture in the Bible as soon as it was mentioned from the stage
2) Not raising our hand during the Watchtower Study
3) Only raising our hand for the first question and not for additional comments (secondary)
4) Commenting in the first few paragraph and then not raising hand again in the next few paragraphs
5) Talking to each other, laughing at each other
6) Being drowsy and falling asleep or nodding off because that meant we weren't paying attention
7) If we had to go to the bathroom during the meeting, because we should have went before the meeting
8) Not looking at the speaker during the talk
9) We even got into big trouble if we only talked to kids before and after the meeting....we were supposed to talk to older people too
Yeah it sucked! My dad and mom were very outspoken about how others in the hall should be raising their kids. Dad was an elder who wanted to be a C.O. and mom was a pioneer who wanted to be an elder. My brother and I were trained to be elders and bethelites...everything was going according to plan....Until I said "I don't believe it anymore."
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Disillusioned Lost-Lamb
No, unless you count browbeating.
I do know the group I grew up with had a bunch of nasty belt snapping bible beater parents though.