[TomGuy]

by the time I was 12, my Dad didn't need a belt anymore for me....

Similar here...but mom would get those little switches, strip the bark, and attack at the ankles. [Dang! I can still feel the stings. Cunning, too. They left whelps for a little while (but they would have disappeared before any officials might have arrived to investigate---but at that time, such things were parental perogatives, not governmental).]

[MikefromOhio]

well by the time I was 12, I was 5'10 and 200 lbs, so sometimes hitting me with something wasn't the best ideas for my parents.

of course, if I smarted off, my mother would slap the taste out of my mouth, and now I am only a smart@$$ to people I dont know :)