Ooooh, I bet that smarted. :-) Actually, we were harder on each other than our parents were on us. Most of the time that the paddle came into play was to break up fights. We were well behaved in public but we were hard on each other at home at times. We all eventually outgrew it.
I can honestly say now, looking back, we didn’t get it unless we absolutely, positively needed it. People are worried about bruises and scars now. Back when I was child we considered bloody lips, cuts, scrapes and bruises an average play day. We were a hell of a lot meaner to each other than our parents were.