Daddy was mostly gentle with his children (until I became old enough to talk back to him, then the verbal handcuffs came off fast and often ;-).
But besides the verbal altercations we'd occasionally have, he didn't believe in disciplining his children physically - you'd really have to piss him off for that to happen...
And I'm sure you can all guess by now who had the ability to do that 😅.
Daddy never hit my sister, never hit my brother, and ONLY hit me twice (believe me, I deserved it WAY more than that!). I don't remember why I got hit one of the times, but the other time will forever stick in my memory.
We were at a family friend's home and I got mad at my sister; I was probably around 8 or so. I then proceeded to kick her in the stomach right in front of Daddy.
Yes, you can see how my stupidity started at a very young age.
She was obviously crying and struggling to breathe, and I remember looking at Daddy and seeing a rage in his eyes I don't ever remember seeing again. He only slapped me once, but damn, it was hard and I will never forget it.
He never wanted to hurt his kids in any way and we all knew this growing up. But if he did hurt us (okay, I should probably stop saying US and just say ME), then I knew I deserved it.
He was very selective in how he demonstrated his displeasure, but once he did, you learned your lesson for a very, VERY long time.