Dear Madame,

I read with great interest and amusement the letter from Mrs. B.D. describing how she punished her naughty schoolboy nephew by putting him into a baby's frock and little frilly knickers, giving him a dummy to suck, and then tying him into a push-chair and wheeling him along to face the girls who he had been tormenting. I think it was an excellent idea on her part to actually tie his dummy in place, so that he could not hide it or get rid of it, and also for her and her friends to go back indoors and leave him to the mercies of the girls. That way, he was exposed to full humiliation without any protection, and I'll bet the girls must have really enjoyed themselves with their lovely, squirming, helpless 'baby'.

No wonder he didn't want to meet them again, and got laughed and jeered at whenever any of them saw him. But I am quite sure that this early experience of petticoat power, and of humiliation at the hands of the female sex, have played a large part in turning him into the kindly and considerate husband that he now is. And if his wife is aware of the incident, the threat of baby clothes and a dummy are always there ready to be used should he give her any cause for concern at any time.

Although I was not aware of it when we married, my own husband was often subjected to similar treatment as a boy. He has three sisters all older than himself, and as his mother was a widow and out at work al! day, much of his upbringing was left to the girls. And they very quickly discovered that, if he was rude or insolent to them, the best way of dealing with him was to remind him, very painfully and humiliatingly, that he was just the baby of the family and must expect to be dressed and treated as such. They bought a dummy for him and a baby's feeding bottle, and one of the girls made him a little frilly bib. If only minor punishment was considered necessary, they would take him out with them in the park, where all their school friends were likely to be around, and he would have to join in all their girls' games with his dummy in his mouth, and then later his bib would be fastened on and he would be given his bottle while everyone crowded round, laughing at him.

More severe offences of rudeness or disobedience were treated even more humiliatingly, as he was then put into a proper baby's frock and frilly petticoats, and fastened up in nappies. He was never taken out like this, except into the garden, but they would always invite some of their friends around, to join in the fun of teasing and playing with their great shame-faced 'baby', and there is no doubt that these experiences left a lasting impression on him.

This treatment continued until he left home to go to college when he was 18, and I would probably never have known anything about it had he not been very rude to me one day when one of his sisters happened to be visiting us. Very cross with him for his bad manners and boorishness, she told me the whole story, whilst my husband sat squirming with embarrassment in his chair! 'He's still just a bad-tempered little baby!' she said. 'I really ought to go out and buy him a dummy, don't you think?'

Of course, I agreed, and in spite of his frantic protests, she went off to the shops and returned half an hour later with a dummy and a pretty little lace bib, and a baby's feeding bottle and a large tin of Glaxo. There and then, we put his bib on and gave him a feed, and afterwards gave him his dummy to suck, and even after Sally had gone, I made him go on using it. At bedtime, I put a nappy on him, and one of my very prettiest nighties, and for the first time, I experienced the thrill of being in complete control of our love making, for he was much too ashamed to do anything but obey my orders, and in any case he was securely imprisoned in his nappy and had to wait for me to unpin him when I was ready!

He now has a full wardrobe of baby clothes - frocks, petticoats, nighties, matinee coats, several dear little frilly bonnets and even bootees and mittens! - which he has to wear whenever I decide that he needs to be punished. His sisters often visit, and are very amused to see their 'baby brother' back in his nappies again.

Yours sincerely,

M/s Elspeth, Worcs.