Brady Bunch ahead of its time: no spankings!

I remember watching the Brady Bunch every Friday night on ABC in the early 70's. I loved the show but as a young kid of 6 to 10, I sometimes wondered why none of the kids were ever spanked when they got into trouble - especially in the early years of the show.

If I had broken my mother's beautiful vase after playing ball in the house, as Peter had done, and then lied about it by not coming clean with the truth, my parents would have bared my butt for a session with the 'magic wand' (hickory stick).

Question: considering the social norms of 30 years ago, what situations in other episodes should/could have warranted a spanking? (NOT including cousin Oliver.)

[Robert Tilton]

I've always wondered this myself & the only thing I can come up with is that the Brady's were so White Bread & Pure that they didn't need to use spankings. I mean just a simple lecture would have the kids feeling down. It would go something like this:

Peter breaks Mom's favorite vase (or whatever) & then:

Mr & Mrs B would find out & confront the kid with their "Brady Lecture", "Brady Wise Sayings" and most importantly the "Brady Problem Solving" methods. There were groundings as in the case of Greg's having no use of the car for a week or so but usually a stern lecture would do the trick. Or since the kids were so pure their consciences would get to them & they'd repent. I guess there was some Brady Brainwashing going on

So the kids would say "Mom Dad I broke the vase. I'm sorry"

Then the Brady's would say "Fine as long as you learned your lesson & your wise saying of the day like "Caveat Emptor" or something like that.

And the most amazing part was the problems always got solved in 30 minutes or less. You could bake an egg by this format.

Here is a general list of how other shows handled the spanking issue:

Little House on the Prairie: Alluded to but never done on TV. Usually especially in Half Pint's case (Laura) a stern look would have her break down. Usually the kids here just had to do more chores.

Andy Griffith: Depicted several times; not on camera as far as I know + in the "Mr MacBeevey?" ep Andy was set to spank Opie but didn't go through with it cause he trusted his son. It turned out all right at the end.

Cosby Show: None I know of

Family Ties: Same thing

Diff'rent Strokes: There was a show called 'The Spanking" where Willis of all people ended up spanking Arnold instead of Mr D. Of course Willis feels bad about it & learns a lesson about discipline in that typical "guilt trip" way. Arnold's butt was sore though.

I guess in general much like the Brady Toilet thing that was universal standard at the time (until Archie Bunker flushing became a gag) spanking on the air was deemed bad or not PC I reckon. However in general when it came to shows w/TV families the 'Guilt Trip Lecture/I'm Sorry Dad" method was used as were Groundings or Chores or my personal favorite: Go to Your Room.

Mostly though the kids were so well behaved & stuff it didn't matter. For especially in the Brady's case they were Mormans or something like that.

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Riches & Glory are in the vow of faith! Send a check or money order for at least $1000, preferably to my account in Zurich; I have a ski lodge up there!

[julian bozo]

Brendan,
Did you get spankings growing up? If so, did they straighten you up? I think the Bradys never got spanked because if you notice in lots of tv shows if the child is spanked it's
not really hard. I don't think they could really show actor parents spanking a actor kid.The two that seem real are The Beverly Hillbillies when Granny paddled Jethro, In a episode of Friends where Chandler's boss keeps smacking him in the behind. Those two were real.

[c-dub]

I always assumed that they more than likely did spank their kids, it just wasn't made a big deal.

In the episode where Bobby is the safety monitor, there are two different references to spankings: one, when Greg tells Marcia that Bobby needs a good swift kick in the rear, and a more direct one when Cindy tells Carol that "if any son of mine did that me I'd give him a spanking!" (in response to an example Carol gave about how Bobby was just doing his job).

In short: the kids were spanked - it wasn't a big deal - but most importantly, everyone wanted to spank Bobby.

[boechsner]

Sorry to disappoint all of you but there was an episode where Greg was spanked. I think it was the episode, The Undergraduate. Mike spanked him.

[¤I Love Clay Aiken¤]

Remember the first Christmas episode....where Carol had laryngitis?? Cindy was outside with Mike, and she asked him: Are you going to spank me? Or something like that....

[astro_smurf]

In the episode "The Liberation Of Marcia Brady" when Mike, Greg, Marcia and the rest of the scout troops are out in the woods Mike wacks Greg with a switch.

In the episode "Fright Night" when the kids are going up the stairs at the end of the episode Cindy gets a spanking.

In the episode "Try, Try Again" Carol spanks Jan at the beginning of the episode.

In the episode "The Hero" when Mike & Carol come into the boys' room to talk to Peter when they are thru talking Mike spanks him.

Crystal

[jehobden]

I don't remember any spankings on those eps you mention, unless they're comical painless swats on the butt.
BTW, probably because of Archie Bunker, although there's never a toilet seen in the kids' bathroom, there's the sound of a toilet flushing in "My Brother's Keeper", after Pete and Bobby divide their room in half, when the boy whose half of the room is on the side w/ the bathroom door (I think it was Bobby.) flushes the "toilet" to show that the other no longer had access to the bathroom.

[SKay]

In My Brother's Keeper, Mrs. Brady threatens to spank Peter and Bobby if they don't quit fighting. In the kitchen she tells Alice something about their "rear flanks" and uses a swatting motion.

[hawaii five-o]

Times When the Brady Kids Should Have Been Bent Over Mike's Knee:

Greg: When he was looking at the album cover while driving on the freeway.

Marcia: When she was Juliet in the school play.

Peter: When he was tape recording the other kids.

Jan: When she hid Myron in the hamper.

Bobby: When he was idolizing Jesse James.

Cindy: When she tattled or opened her big mouth.

Tiger: When he hid Kitty Carry All in the dog house.

[Vegas Girl]

In the episode where Bobby can't win at anything, he was throwing things around when he would lose. But when he tossed all those magazine subscriptions down from the steps and they went scattering, that should have been the last straw!
Mike should have spanked him then!

[makena]

I don't remember any Brady kid getting spanked by Mike or Carol.

The ones mentioned above must have been in a joking manner.

Certain other situations requiring them:

1.Bobby and Cindy get lost in the Grand Canyon.
2. Jan refusing to wear her glasses causing the
family picture to get ruined.
3. Cindy refusing to tell Alice and Carol what had happened to the prize letter that Alice received.

4. Bobby, Greg, and Peter for going to the other
side of the island in the Hawaii episode without
permission.

5. Greg for being a dork about "exact words."

[Vegas Girl]

Greg was 16 in those eps. That's too old to be spanked!

[Somebody252]

Thanks, the summary of how other shows have handled it is just what I was looking for. As one other said, I grew up in the 70s and was never spanked, becuase I was just so well behaved. In fact, my mom's side of the family hasn't used spankings in many decades, just being sent to their room or the corner for timeout was enough, or at the worst a very loud lecture or being grounded (no privileges.) Or having privileges removed; one cousin whom I shall mention later almost couldn't play baseball for a whole season unless he shaped up his rough behavior, and he did. Baseball was more important to him athen lack of physical pain or even of embarrassment.

I was doing a search curious about a different show (Andy Griffith), but found my answer here. And, wanted to sign in one more time just to say thanks.

Like the Bradys we always talk a lot. I think that's the key. It doesn't mean you'll never have to, but as my grandma says, "It's just in our genes." And, some families just do have the genetics that makes them ncredibly docile. Just because it "should " be used, as one poster said, doesn't mean it has to be. That's where one learns mercy and grace, when what could be done isn't. It could be, but it would be a last resort, one that hurts.

If the kids on TBB got fwapped, then that's like what my aunt does w/her kids, a "reaction swat" she calls it, maybe half a dozen times on average w/each kid, more with some than others. Maybe not at all w/1 of them, I don't know. Those are what I call "fwaps" or bun-pinchers, & the kids consider it being spanked. With the one Willis gave (and I am mostly blind so I couldn't tell if he went through with it, if Arnold hurt) was likiely a "bun warmer," but not a "bun burner," as my one friend would classify them. I took the wildest one across my knees once but gave only a bun pincher type, just several fwaps, and it worked; did it 1-2 other times, he liked to hit, etc. and I was showing him how to be nice. He didn't like those spankings! So, even that can work; he later admitted it "treated him right," and got him to be a lot gentler so he could copy me.

I'm just glad I can post this and not feel like a dork. Because, some people that got spanked tried to make me feel almost non-human becasue I was so good - even as *adults*. SAdly, I eventually had to break ties with a couple friends (one of whom later apologized for how he'd treated me, once he became a Christian like me he recognized he'd treated me badly and we are friends again.) because the feelings they were leaving me with were not healthy.

It has its place - but like anything can be misused. And the misuse of anything is why people oppose it 99% of the time, instead of getting rid of the misusers they want to get rid fo the thing altogether. THe corner chair can be misused like spanking, though not as much (it is certainly not something that can be sexual like spanking.)

So, thanks again, and thanks for reading. I appreciate the fact there are many like me who were not spanked or only fwapped, and I am not alone and strange the way they and some who did misuse it in Jr. High made me feel. I am a unique person, just as each of you are. The Lord has a set way that each of us can be handled best because He made us individuals. ANd, it's wonderful to be able to accept others.

So long and God Bless.

[Orville Kruger]

I think Gregg may have been doing a little spanking.
"Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!"