The Hairbrush Trilogy

Found on the internet

Posted by: dianelindstrom | April 11, 2012

Black and white bristles down, on the bare butt.

My brothers and I remember it all too well. My mother did not tolerate lying and when we got caught in the act, we got smacked with the dreaded hairbrush, where it hurt the most.

There was the time when my mother told me that I was not allowed to help myself to the candy cupboard but when no one was looking, that’s where I bolted. I most definitely got caught in the act as I dragged the chair across the kitchen floor and climbed up to reach that bowl of goodies in the corner cupboard. My mom was disappointed that I disobeyed and sternly warned me. However, as soon as the discipline session was over, I headed right back to that cupboard… AGAIN! This time, I accomplished the mission but when asked if I had disobeyed, I lied. That’s when I got the hairbrush, smack on the butt.



My brother humorously tells the story of when he was told not to play with the hamster that my mother (a teacher at the time) had brought home for summer vacation. Of course, Brad let the hamster out of the cage at the first opportunity he had and proceeded to allow the hamster to run through the hollow Christmas paper roll. He was very young and didn’t anticipate the fact that once the hamster got to the end of the tunnel, it would fall out of the tube, which it did, onto the ground, and died. Brad was horrified and quickly put the dead hamster back into its cage. When questioned about rigid hamster he lied…and he got the hairbrush, smack on the butt.



Brad really made me laugh when he told me the following story.

“One day, I watched the way that Nana emptied Paul’s (his older brother) dime bank that looked like a little cash register. When no one was looking, I took all the dimes, stuffed them in my pocket and headed to the local White Rose gas station to buy candy. What I didn’t notice was that I had dropped some dimes on the way out the side door. When I got back, Nana was standing there with her arms crossed in front of her.

“Bradley, you need to go into your bedroom and wait for your mom to come home. “

I knew I was in big trouble. When mom got home, I got a big hairbrush spanking. After she was finished, I looked at mom and said, “that didn’t hurt”…so she spanked me harder. That was the last time I was ever spanked.”



My older brother wasn’t so free with his stories about the infamous hairbrush but he certainly remembered that he got it too. What he did remember was the fact that “mom didn’t tolerate lying. When we lied to her, we got spanked.”

My mom was definitely onto something because there are always consequences to lying – better to learn that when we’re young, right?