“Punishment”: Your Children

“Punishment” is the 56th entry in the radio broadcast Your Children by Angelo Patri. This radio broadcast was turned into an eight-page transcript produced in 1932 by the Cream of Wheat Corporation in association with the Columbia Broadcasting System in Minneapolis. It is currently housed at the University of Alabama’s W.S Hoole Special Collections Library.

This transcript contains descriptions of Patri’s views on the punishment of children by using several different hypothetical examples which argue that punishment should be an educative force towards children who are completely dependent upon adults which help to reinforce their own independence. This education is best emphasized by Patri’s story about a child who has repeatedly been told by his parents not to play in puddles. As the child’s shoes dry, it is his responsibility to clean the shoes, teaching individualistic responsibility and letting the child “carry [his] own burdens” and to learn their own independence.

This publication is useful for academics and educators who pursue several different strategies to educate children through appropriate punishments. However during this time, each booklet was priced at 25 cents, offering only one viewpoint on how to raise children This transcript is designed to act as a signpost for how to punish children. There are a multitude of “you” and “I” phrases contained within the transcript that try to create an emotional connection between the reader/listener and the author. Despite this, the medium of a transcript does not create the same emotional connection that the original radio broadcast could perhaps have created. Published in 1932, this is a valuable tool for analyzing child punishment ideologies during this time.