by avishai 61 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse
I was spanked at the hall,then beaten with a belt when i got home.
When I was 12 a friend and I were talking during the song all of a sudden the congregation overseer at the time stopped the song and asked the ushers to escort us from the hall.Ha! he threw us out at night in a pretty scary part of Vancouver.
I guess in those days you were thought of as a good sister if you took your crying baby to the bathroom to spank it.
God Bless The Children
I knew an elder that used to smack the hell out of his kids at the back of the hall when they cried and as they got older he relegated it to a beating when they got home. All of the guys kids are out of the JW's now which isn't much of a surprise.
Growing up I thought that it was normal to smack your kids every time they pissed you off, I'm starting a family this year and there's no way my kids will be beaten.
ther seems to be a real pattern here, do you think the dubs are so repressed by the bullshit they have to swallow that they take their frustration of not having a life out on their kids, or is it something more sinister
I don't think it is something sinister.... But there was an expectation that you had to have your kids in order and well behaved at the KH. If you didn't, you were counseled..
I remember occasionally getting spankings, but it was only after 2 or 3 warnings, and I probably deserved it. No big deal. I do recall being embarrased to come out from the bathroom afterwards, knowing everyone knew why I was dragged in there in the first place.
The threat of the spanking "when we got home" was usually impetus enough though to keep my sis and I in line.
It always bothered me, though when I became a parent, the nod of approval that would go through the congregation, when another parent hauled their kid off to the bathroom, or the looks of disdain, if a parent didn't take an unruly kid out.
for me........it was a good hair yank.. My mom would sti behind me at the meeting and if I got to talking too much suddenly and without any warning she would grab my hair (which was always long) and pull fast and hard. YOUCH! But she made her point and it was quiet.. She always said she liked that I had long hair for that..
once took a wooden spoon away from a sister using it on her child's bare bottom, full of bruises. I broke the spoon and handed it back to her. She switched congregations right after that.....was it me? I bet she wondered why she got investigated by child services.Blondie
Blondie, my hero. more people should do things like that.
I knew some parents who really beat the hell out of their kids.
They really took to heart -- spare the rod and spoil the child -- I have seen belts, wooden spoons, hard slaps, all sorts used -- it used to make me cringe and be very angry - sure a little slap never hurt anybody -- but I have seen it taken to extremes right inside the Kindom Hall
Smurfette: Is your brother still a JW ? I wonder when I read such horrible stories of small children being beaten like that, what the relationship between the abusive parent and the child is, when the child is an adult. . . and what about these sick elders who beat him too ? How would your brother react if he met one of them now ?
There were a lot of children in our hal, and most of them were spanked.
I remember one specific kid: when his mom took him to the back to get spanked he yelled "Jehovah, help me" there was a ripple of laughter that time, but most of the time it was just very annoying.
I never understood why those (young) mothers forced their children to sit quiet during all those meetings.....
