A Daughter's Punishment

About five years ago I was surprised to be telephoned by Mrs Webb, the principal of my daughter's school. She told me that Wendy, who was then fifteen years old and in her junior year, together with several other girls, had 'rioted' on a school coach and asked if I objected to her receiving a caning. Wendy's mother died many years ago and I have brought her up by myself. I did not answer the principal immediately. Wendy had never received a proper spanking in her life. However Mrs Webb told me that the only alternative was suspension which would certainly adversely affect her in the exams she was taking later that year. She said that all the other parents she had contacted so far had agreed. I asked for more details of the 'riot' and what exactly my daughter had done.

She told me that some girls, my daughter among them, had brought alcohol and cigarettes on to the coach. Subsequently fights had broken out. Bottles had actually been thrown through the coach windows on to the road. The driver had been terrified. All the girls on the coach were to be punished but only the ringleaders and those most involved in the fighting were to be caned. Wendy had admitted bringing four cans of lager on to the coach. Mrs Webb also said that if I agreed she would have no objection to allowing me to witness the canings so that I could see for myself that the punishments were not excessive. After some thought I gave my permission.

I left work early and drove to the school. I got there just before 3.34 pm and went to Mrs Webb's office. There were four or five mothers of other girls, some of whom I knew slightly, and one other man already there. After a few minutes two more women arrived. One was Mrs Roberts, the mother of Melanie, Wendy's best friend. Mrs Webb told us that the girls were waiting in the Hall and then went to a cupboard and selected two canes, both a little more than two feet six inches long. She told us that she was very sorry that she had to administer corporal punishment but that she couldn't help feeling that some of the blame was due with us, the parents, for not being strict enough with our daughters. She led the way to the Hall.

The girls were waiting lined up by one of the walls. I was surprised to see how many of them there were. Fifteen girls were standing there silently under the eye of a young and athletic looking teacher who, my daughter told me later, was Miss Baker, the gym mistress. Wendy looked terribly frightened and didn't look at me as we walked in. Two of the other girls particularly attracted my attention: a very pretty girl in full make up wearing a denim jacket and tight jeans, and a tall girl dressed almost like a punk, wearing a very short leather mini skirt. These two looked less like schoolgirls than young women. I saw the girls' already apprehensive faces go a shade paler as they saw the long, flexible canes quivering in the hands of their principal.

There were chairs lined up opposite the girls where we parents were directed to sit, and one isolated chair in the middle of the floor. Mrs Webb handed one cane to the gym mistress and one of the girls began to cry quietly. Mrs Webb then gave the girls a good talking to. She announced that for such serious misbehaviour, damaging to the reputation of the school, no punishment except the cane was appropriate and that each girl would receive four strokes. She concluded by saying that, contrary to the rules, most of the girls were not wearing school uniform, some despite warnings, and that these girls would receive additional strokes of the cane. I was pleased that Wendy had worn school uniform that day, she didn't always. I tried to catch her eye to give her a look of encouragement, but she was staring at her shoes and looked petrified.

Mrs Webb announced that the punishments would be carried out in alphabetical order of surnames, and after a pause the first girl walked slowly forward. It was Cathy, a girl in my daughter's class. She was a slender, attractive girl, whose face was framed by her long black hair. Mrs Webb told her to bend over the central chair facing the other girls, and she did so. She was wearing school uniform, and when she was bent over the chair Mrs Webb took hold of the hem of her grey school skirt and lifted it up, pinning it to the back of her blouse with a safety pin.

The principal laid her cane carefully across Cathy's blue panties and then raised it high. Taking careful aim she brought it down with a resounding thwack. Cathy squealed at the sudden stinging pain and her head jerked back sharply. She looked round with an expression of shock and disbelief on her face as if she could not believe that Mrs Webb had intended to hurt her that much. We saw her try to tense herself for the next stroke, but she could not prevent the wrigglings of her bottom as it awaited the next assault of the cane.

When the second stroke did come it was too much for poor Cathy. She leapt up and danced from one foot to the other with her hands pressed to her stinging bottom. She was weeping now and kept begging Mrs Webb over and over not to give her any more.

Mrs Webb beckoned to the gym mistress who came over to hold Cathy down for the remainder of her caning. Her cries fell on deaf ears and her desperate writhings could not save her buttocks from the two remaining punishing strokes. After the fourth stroke Mrs Webb unpinned her skirt and motioned to Miss Baker to let her go. Cathy remained standing in the centre of the Hall clasping her sore bottom with both hands. After a few moments, however, with everybody's eyes still fixed on her, she was ordered to go and stand by the wall, near the door, facing the wall. She hobbled across the room still sobbing and with one hand still held to the back of her skirt. Mrs Webb announced that if any other girls still needed to be held down as Cathy had been, they would receive an additional two strokes. They all deserved their punishments and now they had to take their medicine - and there wasn't time for all this mucking about.

Then it was the turn of Sheila, a delicately pretty little blonde, sixteen years old. Sheila had made the mistake of coming to school that day in a beige coloured blouse and a white skirt and therefore had to expect a more severe caning than the one which had reduced Cathy to tears. As she walked slowly towards the chair, her pretty face blushing red, I looked over to where Wendy was standing. Cathy's caning had obviously made an impression on her. She looked a picture of misery and was gnawing on her lower lip. Her hands were held to the seat of her skirt and she was trembling and fidgeting nervously. I felt very sorry for her, but I knew that this was a lesson that she'd been needing for some time. She told me afterwards that until she had seen the effect that the cane had on Cathy she hadn't realised just how serious a punishment a caning was.

Sheila bent over the chair. The outline of her buttocks and her panties were clearly revealed through the tight white skirt. Mrs Webb tried to raise the skirt, but it was too tight. Sheila had to stand up again, take the skirt off and then bend back down again.

Mrs Webb announced that Sheila would receive an additional two strokes for not wearing the school uniform. Then the punishment began. Sheila received the first stroke in silence. The second, landing on the same place low down on her bottom, wrung from her a stifled groan. Silent after the third, she yelled loudly at each of the last three cuts. Nevertheless she maintained a tight grip on the chair until Mrs Webb tapped her on the shoulder after the sixth stroke and told her to stand up and put her skirt back on. She had taken her punishment so well by comparison with Cathy that I wondered if she had ever been caned before. But Wendy told me later that she was not a particularly naughty girl and had never had the cane.

When she had got her skirt back on she stumbled over to stand next to Cathy and pressed her hands to her bottom. But she did not enjoy even this tiny relief for long. Mrs Webb angrily snapped out that on lining up all girls had to put their hands behind their necks.

The next girl to walk forward was Anna. Her extremely frightened appearance must in part have been due to the fact that she wore grey- blue trousers and a cotton top and, like Sheila, could expect no fewer than six searing cuts across her bottom. Mrs Webb gave way to the gym mistress who came forward to cane Anna. She seemed to cane with greater power than Mrs Webb and poor Anna shrieked and kicked her legs - so far as she could with her trousers around her knees - after every whack. After the fifth stroke she straightened, but immediately bent down again, so as not to earn the extra strokes. Miss Baker paused for a long time before the sixth stroke and we could all hear Anna's sobs. The poor girl couldn't keep still, but somehow she managed to stay bent over. When the cane finally landed Anna yelled like a madwoman and leapt upright. Her trousers had been kicked off by now and she did a frantic war-dance of pain for about half a minute. Then Mrs Webb caught hold of her and got her to put her trousers back on before pushing her over to stand with the other caned girls.

Debbie was next. She was one of the two girls I had specially noticed at first. She was a strikingly pretty girl who, with her well-developed bust and tight denim jeans, looked more like a fashion model than a schoolgirl. In addition to her non-regulation clothing she also wore make-up and had painted nails -also strictly against the rules. All in all she looked nearer twenty than seventeen, except for the expression on her face. Wendy told me later that Debbie had a reputation as one of the naughtiest girls at the school and was one of four girls there that day who had had the cane before. Mrs Webb indicated that she would deal with Debbie.

She reminded Debbie that she had been warned several times about school uniform and punished only the week before for wearing jeans. She had therefore decided that Debbie would receive four extra strokes - eight in all. She also said that if the punishments had been in private she would have taken Debbie's panties down for the caning and that she would do so if Debbie was ever sent to her again! She waited while Debbie wriggled out of her jeans and said, meaningfully "I'm going to make sure that you won't forget this in a hurry, my girl!"

As Debbie bent over the chair she displayed a well-shaped, fully mature bottom, scantily clad in a pair of close fitting panties - white with pink flowers. Mrs Webb took hold of the girl's panties and pulled them up tight, revealing more and more pale pink flesh. Nothing like this had been done when the other girls had been punished and it was obvious that the principal intended to make sure that Debbie really felt her caning.

Debbie's body quivered as Mrs Webb laid the cane across her bottom as the prelude to the punishment. The principal really laid it on, and it was obvious that she was hitting her much harder than she had either Cathy or Sheila. Debbie was yelling and begging for mercy long before the eighth stroke fell, but managed to remain in position throughout. As the last stroke crashed into her wildly- jiggling hindquarters she howled in a high-pitched scream, her whole body shaking with pain. She got up when told to, slowly and with deliberate movements. Like the other girls her hands went straight to her rear, but the cane marks were very obvious on either side of her panties. It took a while for her to manoeuvre herself back into her jeans before she limped over to join the other three caned girls.

There was a pause of a few seconds now before the next girl came out. I wondered if it could be Wendy's turn next. After a moment or two Mrs Webb said "All right. Who's next in alphabetical order? Any time-wasting will be punished!"

A little Asian girl stumbled forwards, half-propelled by one of her neighbours. With down-cast head she slowly crawled towards the chair. When she reached it, before bending over it she turned to look at her mother, who was sitting a few chairs away from me. I couldn't help feeling sorry for her, her eyes looked so large and sad. Wendy told me that evening that her name was Kamilah Khan and that she was normally very well-behaved but that she had been dragged into the fight by some other girls.

She was wearing full school uniform, and her pert little upturned bottom in its blue school panties received its four strokes from the gym mistress's cane. Despite Kamilah's evident fear she took her punishment very bravely and no sound escaped her lips during the infliction. I could see that Miss Baker increased the ferocity of her strokes so as to elicit some reaction, but Kamilah remained mute even after the fourth stroke which landed across her bottom with a noise like an exploding firework. But the way she held her little bottom when told to get up and the slow, painful way in which she hobbled over to join the other girls by the wall made clear that she had really felt her caning. I looked over towards Mrs Khan, but her impassive expression had not altered.

When Kamilah had joined the other caned girls the next culprit walked forward. This was the tall girl with the punkish hairstyle wearing a mini skirt. From her appearance I concluded, correctly as it turned out, that this must be Lesley Marling, of whom Wendy had told me many stories.

She was supposed to be a complete slag, sleeping with any boy. She paid scant regard to any school rule and had felt the sting of Mrs Webb's cane more often than any girl there that day. When she reached the chair she tossed her head and bent down, wriggling her bottom provocatively.

As she bent her tiny red skirt inched upwards and when she was in position her bottom was fully exposed. Her white pants were almost microscopically tiny and afforded her bottom almost no protection at all. Mrs Webb prepared to carry out her punishment and announced that, like Debbie, she would receive eight strokes.

Once again the principal really laid it on. Lesley took it very well, considering, but she jumped up after the eighth stroke without having been given permission. Immediately, and despite Lesley's tearful protestations, Mrs Webb got Miss Baker to hold her down. Then she delivered two biting whacks with her utmost energy. Poor Lesley struggled wildly, but unsuccessfully, in the gym mistress's grasp and her shrieks as those two strokes landed could have wakened the dead. It seemed unfair as Anna had also jumped up after her last stroke without permission but, according to Wendy it was really Lesley who was most to blame for what had happened on the coach, so I suppose she deserved it.

It was now the turn of my daughter, Wendy. It looked as though she was already crying, but she still didn't look me in the eye. The gym mistress caned Wendy, four of the best over her school panties. Poor Wendy's backside had never felt anything worse than a gentle slap from the palm of my hand before, and now she jumped and yelled at each stroke after the first one.

However, with Lesley's example before her, she managed to get back into position each time. But after the last stroke, which seemed almost to cut her in half, she leapt up with a piercing yell of agony almost two feet in the air, it seemed. When she came down she began to rub her exquisitely sore behind frantically, with her skirt still pinned up to her blouse.

I was frightened that she would be given two extra penalty strokes as Lesley had been. But the teachers must have known that Wendy had been punished enough already and Mrs Webb unpinned her skirt and watched with a half smile as she stumbled over to join her friends in a symphony of sobs.

I felt every stroke of Wendy's punishment as if the cane had been smashing into my own backside and when it was over I longed to run up to her, take her in arms and kiss and comfort her, telling her how brave she'd been. But I couldn't do anything. I had to watch as she lined up next to Lesley and took her hands away from her little bottom to place them behind her neck, tears of pain and shame running down her pretty face. I knew that Wendy had been very naughty and had deserved to be punished, but I would never have hit her like that and I felt angry at the young gym mistress for hitting her so hard.

Wendy's place across the chair was taken by Suzanne, a rather plump girl who was not wearing school uniform. Instead she wore a fetching knitted dress, blue with horizontal golden stripes on the skirt. She was another girl who had been caned before.

Mrs Webb resumed her place and lifted and pinned back the skirt to reveal Suzanne's light blue panties. Then she began the punishment apparently as strong as ever. Suzanne took the first two strokes in silence, although her squirmings and wrigglings after each whack showed that the burning pain of the cane was certainly getting through to her. At the third stroke she let out a sort of gasp, and at the fourth a long moan. Mrs Webb paused before applying the fifth stroke, which she brought down hard across the lowest part of girl's bottom. Suzanne threw back her head and screamed loudly. Almost immediately the final terrific impact of the cane landed in the same place, and Sue repeated the performance even louder. Then her skirt was unpinned and she was allowed to limp across and join her weeping colleagues in disgrace.

Mrs Webb gave way to allow the gym mistress to deal with the next culprit. This was Caroline, a tall well-built girl wearing a brightly coloured sweatshirt and faded denim jeans. Caroline had at first not looked so distressed as the other girls. Wendy told me later that she had thought that she would be caned over her jeans and had joked to the other girls about how glad she was that she had worn them because of the protection they would give her bottom. But now that she had seen the other punishments, and particularly Debbie's, her cockiness had gone. She was obviously worried that she might get eight strokes, like Debbie, and was obviously relieved when Mrs Webb announced that she would receive six strokes.

Miss Baker caned Caroline efficiently. The tall schoolgirl yelped at each stroke and only just avoided extra strokes when she stood up and cradled her bottom after number five. Luckily for her rear she bent back down voluntarily just as Mrs Webb was getting ready to hold her down. When the caning was over it took her nearly a minute to pull her jeans back on.

The next girl to walk forward was Melanie Roberts, whom I knew as a friend of Wendy's who had often visited our house. I knew that Melanie was very sensitive to pain and made a terrible fuss over the tiniest bruise, so I couldn't imagine what a caning would do to her. It looked to me at first as if she was wearing school uniform, but on looking closely you could see that her skirt was light blue and not the regulation grey. The principal made no exception - it was to be six strokes. Melanie's face wore an expression of sheer panic, she had already started crying quietly to herself.

Mrs Webb administered Melanie's caning. The fifteen year old stayed bent over the chair for the first stroke, which elicited a frantic howl, but as the second stroke walloped across her panties she jumped upright and twisted around to face us. "Ooowh Mum!" she yelled, "Make her stop! Ow ow ow! It hurts too much . . . please!"

But Mrs Roberts was unsympathetic. "Get back over that chair, Melanie!" she said "Don't be such a little coward!" Poor Melanie looked dumbstruck. Mrs Roberts turned and whispered to me "This is exactly what Melanie has been asking for. It'll do her the world of good! The number of times I've asked Frank to put her across his knees . . ."

So Melanie was bent down over the chair once more, this time in Miss Baker's strong grip. The principal took her time over the caning. Melanie made a tremendous fuss, yelling and screaming at the top of her voice and struggling wildly. But she could not escape from Miss Baker's strong hands and her frantic kickings just made things worse for her. Mrs Webb did not stop until Melanie had received her full eight strokes.

When the infliction was finally over Miss Baker unpinned Melanie's skirt and released her grip. The squirming girl fell on to the floor and remained there, rolling over and over, her hands thrust desperately under her skirt to try to assuage the stinging pain. Mrs Webb allowed her about half a minute and then grasped her by an ear and pulled her upright before pushing her over to join her comrades in disgrace.

The next girl, Elaine Swanton, could not have been more of a contrast. She was the last of the girls who had had previous experience of Mrs Webb's cane. She was wearing full school uniform and cheekily smiled at us as she came forward. She rolled up her skirt herself and then bent forward and jauntily stuck her bottom in the air as if challenging the teachers to do their worst.

The gym mistress did her best to wipe the smile off Elaine's face and delivered four vicious cuts. But Elaine made no sound and remained firmly in position throughout. After the last stroke she stayed down until Mrs Webb told her to get up and then she walked calmly over to the wall. Unlike all the other girls she did not try to comfort her caned bottom, but kept her hands by her side. When she reached the wall she turned and looked at the gym mistress and smiled again and then faced the wall and put her hands behind her neck. But despite her courage Elaine, too, had been hurt. As I continued to watch I saw her hopping in discomfort from foot to foot and heard her sharp intakes of breath when she thought no one was paying attention.

The girl who walked forward next was also in full school uniform, but it was different to that worn by the others, being a blue jacket and a navy blue skirt as opposed to the grey worn by the others. Wendy told me later that this was Helen Warwick who had been the sixth form prefect in charge of supervising the ill-fated coach party. No doubt if a teacher had been responsible he or she would have been sacked, as it was a prefect she was caned - after first being removed from her position.

Wendy told me that most of the girls agreed that it was unfair that Helen got the cane as she had done as much as she could to stop the trouble. Helen was known as a very quiet girl, almost a teacher's pet, and at almost nineteen must surely have never guessed that she would have to bend over for the cane. But she didn't argue, she walked forward slowly, but steadily, with downcast head and bent over the chair without protest. As she raised Helen's skirt out of the way Mrs Webb explained that it was only very rarely that she found it necessary to cane sixth formers and that when she had to carry out such a punishment she gave a minimum of six strokes.

Helen duly received six resounding whacks from that whippy cane. Like Elaine she managed to stay in position throughout, scarcely moving, but her anguished cries as the last three cuts of cane dug in showed that despite its unaccustomed exercise Mrs Webb's right arm was as powerful as ever. Helen was weeping quietly as she hobbled over to stand next to the other caned girls.

Only three girls now remained with uncaned bottoms - Mandy Weston, Claire Wetherby and Lynda White. And of these three only Mandy could expect the minimum four strokes as she was the only one in school uniform. Claire, a tall and rather overweight girl, was wearing orange trousers, while Lynda - the smallest and youngest girl involved in the incident - wore a tight red dress.

Mandy and Claire both took their canings well and neither needed to be restrained. Miss Baker used Mandy's caning to demonstrate that Elaine's lack of response had not been due to any diminishing of her vigour. When it was over Mandy spent almost a minute jumping up and down holding on to her outraged rear before being persuaded to stumble over to join the others. I remember Claire's punishment too - the cane denting deeply into the girl's large panty-clad posterior and bouncing back again. She took it in silence but I remember her agonized face and seeing her biting her lower lip to hold back a cry of pain when it was all over and she had received the sixth stroke.

The last girl of all was Lynda White who was the shortest and, at fourteen, the youngest girl to be punished that day. Poor little Lynda had seen all her companions caned one by one and she did not escape lightly by being the last girl to be dealt with. She leapt upright with a frantic yell after only two strokes and was then held down by Miss Baker for a further six stingers which were delivered across her bright red panties with undiminished ferocity. When she was released it was impossible to imagine poor little Miss White sitting down again in any degree of comfort for a very long time to come.

Finally the bitterly weeping Lynda, hands behind her neck, joined the other punished girls. Mrs Webb told them all to turn around and she gave them all a long lecture. She told them that they all, except for Helen Warwick, had to write out 'I must behave properly and with decorum during school hours' 100 times, to be handed in before assembly the next day. Helen had to write 'Being a school prefect entails responsibilities as well as privileges' 100 times. In addition those girls who had been punished for not wearing school uniform had to write 'I must wear school uniform to school' 50 times. Mrs Webb warned the girls to have the lines done in time - swishing her cane meaningfully to indicate the consequences if they were not! She then dismissed the girls.

When we got to the car Wendy found sitting down intensely painful and she perched uncomfortably above the seat, supporting her weight on her hands and squeaking and squealing in pain for the whole of the journey home. Her bottom was obviously very sore and she ate her tea that evening standing up - like a horse as I remarked humorously to try to ease the tension. She wrote her lines standing up as well and then went to bed early. I don't think she got a lot of sleep that night, though.

Next morning, at breakfast, I watched as she slowly lowered herself down onto a chair. She winced as her wealed bottom made contact with the chair seat. I asked her how she was feeling. She told me that she was much better but that she was still feeling very tender and that the cane had left nasty bruises. I said that she had had a well-deserved lesson and that I hoped she would benefit from it. She was in a very subdued and quiet mood and hardly spoke. We made sure that she was in full uniform and that she had her lines and she left for school - a good half hour before her usual time. She handed her lines in to Mrs Webb and that was the end of the matter so far as she was concerned. Some of her friends were not so lucky, however.

All the girls presented themselves in Mrs Webb's office in full school uniform and handed in their lines. But Claire and Melanie had not written the required quantity - not expecting the principal to check thoroughly - and, although Lynda and Anna had written all their lines, Mrs Webb decided that they were too badly written to be acceptable. The other girls were allowed to go, leaving the four defaulters behind. Wendy found out what happened next from Melanie.

Mrs Webb must have thought that the girls' bottoms had suffered enough because she made them hold out their non-writing hands for two stinging cuts of the cane. Melanie told Wendy that it hurt even more on the hand than on the bum. Poor little Lynda was unlucky again. This time she was the first to be caned and she was taken by surprise by the intense sting of the first stroke. Apparently she let a swear word out and Mrs Webb administered a further two strokes to her other hand in retribution.

After this incident Wendy's behaviour certainly improved, both at home an at school. It proved to me that she was not too old to go over my knee and from then on naughtiness was punished with a sharp dose of the slipper over her pyjama bottoms. She was never caned at school again.