Just Wait until your Dad gets Home

 

Just Wait until Your Dad Gets Home

This is a familiar phrase used by mothers all over the south to instill fear in their children.  Obedience was an expectation that seldom was rendered satisfactorily.  At wit’s end, a mother might resort to the famous saying in exasperation, after discipline of her own had failed her.  Exhausted, physically and emotionally, she would defer the child’s punishment to her spouse.  The anticipation of the impending “spanking” was almost as bad as the actual act for these unfortunate sons and daughters.  My mother was no different in her attempt to keep unruliness at bay.  Although my sister and I were angels most of the time, we would on occasion get in hot water with our mother.  When she had had enough, she would blurt out the always frightening: “just wait until your dad gets home”!  Litte did she know!  

My Dad could discipline us with just a “look”.  He didn’t need to resort to a whooping.  He had gotten so many of them as a boy that I don’t think he could bring himself to be on the other end of such violence.  When he came through the door, mom would convey that she needed him to proceed to give us a punishment.  He would take us into the bathroom one at a time.  He would say, “Now I am going to hit the back of my hand and when I do, you cry, okay?”  So, he hit the back of his hand a few times, and we faked crying to the best of our ability.  This satisfied our mother and kept us out of harm’s way.  I don’t know if my mother ever knew he did that, but she probably suspected something.  Either way, she still continued to use the threat: “wait until your dad gets home”!  And we couldn’t wait!

Tammy Harvey  10/26/2025