Melanie took a deep breath, then opened the door. She walked in, and found her son face down on his bed, crying.

"Mama please," he whined while sitting up. "I'm sorry, I promise."

Melanie felt a twinge of guilt hearing his little pleas and him using the name he hadn't called her in years, but knew she had to follow through.

"Michael, you've been rude and disrespectful all day. You called your sister rude names, you yelled at your father and I, you insulted us, and now you just slammed the door," Melanie looked at the door "and broke it! Tell me one good reason why you shouldn't be punished."

"I'm already being punished! You lectured me and I'm locked I here for an eternity . And I said I'm sorry!" Mike responded with a shaky voice.

"You're right. I've given you several warnings. I started with talking, then yelling, then I sent you up here. Obviously, you didn't learn from that, because you still decided after that to yell at me and slam your door. So, since it's not going through your head, it's time to try the other end. There's no getting out of it this time, Michael."

With that, Melanie sat down on Michael's bed, and took his arm, placing him over her lap. Michael knew there was no getting out of this, so he reluctantly accepted his fate.

Melanie hated when she had to punish any of her kids, and usually left it to their father, but she felt that this was quite necessary after the behaviour that her son had displayed.

So, she raised the hairbrush and delivered the first smack. Michael squirmed, but didn't try to get up. By the third smack, he was crying uncontrollably. After the tenth smack, Melanie was done.

She waited for Michael to start to get up, then she picked him up and started cuddling him.

"I'm sorry mama," Mike said once he was able to talk again. I was really rude to act like that. I don't know why I thought it was okay."

"It's okay now honey, you're forgiven. I don't ever want to have to do that again though, okay?"

"I'll try to be good now mama. I don't want you to ever do that again!"

"Okay. You can stay up here and calm down, and I'll call you down in a bit for lunch, okay?"

"Yes, mama"

Melanie smiled, remembering how her son had called her mama. She hoped he would keep calling her that, even when he wasn't in trouble.

Fifteen minutes later, Melanie went back up to Michael's room, where he was laying on his bed on his stomach.

"Have you been thinking about what you did today, Mike?"

"Yeah ma, and I really regret it…not just because you punished me."

"I love you Mike, and I'm happy to hear you learned something. Lunch is ready, so you can come downstairs now. Your pa should be home soon as well, and I expect you to tell him exactly what happened. Okay?"

"Love you too, ma. Do you think pa is going to be mad?"

"Most likely, but you'll need to face whatever he tells you. Got it?"

"Yes ma."

"Okay! Then let's go eat!"