I like to think I generally have a pretty good sense of humor, but...

[merrily]

28. I think parents learn pretty quickly what their kids' fake cry sounds like.

I didn't spank either. I had been spanked and worse. Like most kids, the way I grew up seemed like it must be how everyone grows up. So, it had never occurred to me not to spank. Then, as a newly wed, my husband's uncle mentioned in conversation that it had been my father-in-law who had taught him (the uncle) never to hit a child. My husband was such a dutiful son and all around good person that I was stunned. I had assumed spanking was necessary to produce a good adult. So, I looked at my father in law in amazement and said, "Really?" And he explained his reasons, which made perect sense to me.

Once, when my son was still pre-school, maybe 3, he did something that seemed so defiant and willful and Iwas so tired that I reflexively hit him. We were both stunned. When he was about 7 or 8, I told another adult that I had never hit him. To my utter shock, he piped up, "You did when I was two years old." I am pretty sure he was older than two at the time, but not by much. I don't know how he remembered.

Meanwhile, it's funny how we seem to have turned a practical joke thread into a child rearing thread. Moms! Can't live with 'em, can't get born without 'em.