Fascination with the Paddle

I first associated the paddle as something teachers used to spank misbehaving students. Most commonly, teacher would have a Fli-Back paddle, which would usually be kept in the desk drawer, and only came out on rare occasions. Perhaps there was more of a mystique about them because they were not seen (nor used) very often. Of course, the principal also had a paddle, which horror stories were told about. Some teachers had home made paddles which were usually supposed to be worse than the Fli-Back. But this was something confined to school.
And then there was an episode of a TV cop show, Dragnet. In this episode, a woman had been shot, with no motive, and no suspects. Eventually, the police figured out that the woman had been carelessly shot by her son. The parents wanted do know how to deal with their son. Friday, the investigating policeman, asked, "Did you used to paddle your son?"
The mother replied, "And how!"
Friday then asked, "Do you still have the paddle?"
It was implied that the parents would deal with the son by paddling him, and no charges would be filed against him.
And I thought, "Wait! Parents have paddles. A kid could get a spanking with a paddle, not just at school, but at home too. While I was never paddled by my parents, this opened up a whole new dimension in my spanking fantasies. I remain fascinated whit the paddle to this day.

What struck me about the Dragnet episode is that a large number of American households still find it quite acceptable to keep guns in the house, whereas these days keeping a paddle would probably be frowned upon. I don't want to start a debate, but from a European perspective it does seem to reflect a strange set of priorities.

I first saw a paddle watching ‘Dead Poets Society’ and was puzzled that in America they used what looked to me like a cricket bat rather than a cane. Watching the film again more recently that scene seemed to have been cut. Or maybe it was never there and I just imagined it.

Mention of principal's paddles reminds me of my elementary school principal who actually had a paddle with Board of Education etched on it. And it was feared, but most of us kids never experienced it because she only used it in cases of seriously bad behavior. She was a tough but fair and caring lady who in truth was respected and even loved by the vast majority of her students. Not only the paddle, but we didn't want to make her feel disappointed in us. She also had a"Look" that most of the time checked improper behavior without her having to say a word!
Corporal punishment was not used at the high school I attended back in the early 60s. Admit I was suprised to learn that it was used at that level back then and even today. And I grew up in a rural Southern community where spanking was widely accepted, did know of some parents who used it even when their kids reached their teens. But not by the high school.

As those who've read my stories can tell, the paddle was definitely part of my childhood. It was ever present in school. Every Principal in my schools had one and used it, sometimes too much. I was introduced to it in First Grade, and my last time was as a Senior in High School. All the paddles in my schools were made at home, or in the schools wood shop. I made several in wood shop in Jr. High, but never had one I made used on me.

Oh yes, it was there, you didn't imagine it.

The word "paddle" conjures a wide range of images. Paddles that are big, small, thick, thin, with out with holes, some with cutesy sayings, etc. There is no "standard" paddle that everyone pictures when they hear that word.
The "board of education" school paddles aren't the souvenir paddles designed to be used on a younger subject.

Those differences really make it difficult to compare paddlings.

And there are paddles of lexan or leather as well as wood. And pingpong paddles and CB paddles, and those huge fraternity paddles that look more suitable for clubbing an attacking bear than spanking someone.
Right, there is no "standsrd paddle" And much depend on who the spankee is, a light souvenir paddle might terrify a child, but a woman with a well-upholstered bottom might laugh at the idea of having it used on her as punishment!n

The school I went to for K through third grade had a weird obsession with paddling. Teachers didn't hide their paddles away in drawers but proudly displayed them on their desks or propped on the ledge of the chalkboard. I will never forget when my first grade teacher made the whole class practice bending over to be paddled after explaining the procedure. It seemed normal back then but looking back on it, it feels surreal. It definitely fed into my interest in spanking and my early fantasies.

My second grade teacher was particularly free with dishing out paddlings although she used a ruler instead of a paddle like other teachers in the school. I'm not sure any of us got past that year without feeling her ruler on our backsides. I got it for being late getting back in from recess because I stopped by the restroom. That was my only spanking in my entire childhood.

My family moved to a different town before I started the fourth grade and the new school had a policy against corporal punishment though that may have been a change in my state's policy since my fifth grade teacher did keep a paddle on her desk even though she made it clear she wasn't permitted to spank students anymore.

I think the fascination of the paddle is comparable to the that of a sword. While other weapons have other uses - axes for cutting wood, bows and spears for hunting, and so on - swords are designed for human-on-human combat. And in the same way, other spanking implements have other uses - brushes for hair, belts to hold pants up. Paddles, however, have just this one special purpose, and that makes them especially exciting to me.