Dear Miss Candida,

Those ladies who believe in petticoating and baby treatment as a corrective for wayward teenage boys may be interested in my own experience with my stepson. He was getting quite rude and out of hand, and I made up my mind to put him back into petticoats to remind him that he was still only a child. Not wishing to be too severe at this early stage, I decided to put him into a blouse and kilt rather than frocks, with a plain white cotton petticoat with a frill of lace round the bottom. At first I had considered making him wear my knickers, but as it happens my sister has a girl, Mavis, who is the same age as the boy, and so instead he was made to wear her knickers, which of course upset him terribly. Mavis herself was naturally highly amused, and whenever she came to the house, she would tease the poor lad unmercifully about him 'sharing' her knickers. He would always be made to lift up his kilt and petticoat so she could see which pair he was wearing that day!

Worn with knee length white silk socks and black patent leather Mary Jane shoes, the whole outfit looked most attractive, and provided he behaved himself and did not indulge in any horseplay, his pretty little petticoat could not actually be seen, so I was able to take him out like this, much to his embarrassment and misery. At mealtimes or when busy around the house, he was made to wear a white linen pinafore, with embroidered epaulettes and a deep lace frill around the bottom. As it fastened at the back, he could not put it on or take it off himself, and so he had the humiliating task of always having to ask politely for it to be tied on or removed. Sometimes, if I felt that extra punishment was needed, I would send him out on little local errands still tied up in his pinafore, which of course really upset him.

Once he was in petticoats there was an immediate and most noticeable change in his behaviour, but after some months I found that he was beginning to slip back into some of his naughty ways, so I decided that stricter measures were needed, and that he should be put in to a frock rather than a blouse and kilt. It was Mavis, in fact, when I discussed it with her and my sister, who suggested that a little girl frock, with tiny baby puff sleeves and a lace collar, would be most suitable, and she herself actually made it for him in needlework class at school.

She also, to my amusement, made him a really lovely pair of baby girl white cotton knickers. They had a gathered band round the legs, trimmed with a frill of lace, and in truly childish style they buttoned at the waist onto a liberty bodice.

The poor lad actually burst into tears when he was put into his new outfit for the first time. But he really looked quite lovely, in spite of his size. Mavis had very cleverly made the frock short enough for the lace frills of both his petticoats and knickers to be quite clearly seen underneath, and with ankle socks and a child's shoes, and a big floppy bow of ribbon in his hair, the whole effect was really quite delightful.

Of course he couldn't be taken out like this, but he had to wear his new outfit all the time in the house, and I introduced a new humiliation by sending him out in the garden like that. My neighbours on both sides were already aware, of course, that he had been put back into petticoats for his naughtiness, and thoroughly approved, and you can imagine the amusement he caused, wandering about the garden in his in his skimpy little frock and frilly lace petticoats and knickers, sulkily nursing the dolls Mavis had bought for him, as she had trained him to do. Under their relentless teasing he often begged most pitifully to be allowed back indoors, but he had to stay and face it as best he could.

He remained in this little girl form of dress until leaving school at the age of sixteen. Apart from a few sulky tantrums and quite a lot of tears, it kept him completely docile and obedient, and there was really no need to make any changes. But once again it was Mavis - now a most attractive young lady - who came up with a new idea. Why not, she suggested, since he looked so nice in his baby girl clothes, take matters a step further and put him back into nappies like a real baby? I must admit I found the idea of a boy being put into nappies rather startling, but at the same time there was something quite exciting and appealing about it, and so to her great delight I agreed.

When the boy was told of our plans, he begged piteously not to be humiliated like this, but just to let him see we were in earnest, I pushed a baby's dummy teat into his mouth, and he was told that in future he was to use it all the time, and that he would be severely punished if ever I caught him without it. And it has been his constant humiliating companion ever since.

Fortunately his little frock and petticoats were already sufficiently short and babyish for no alterations to be necessary, but the psychological effect of being treated like a real baby and fastened up in nappies, instead of his little girl knickers, was everything I could have wished for. Well trained though he already was, he cried and sobbed, and pleaded with us not to be further humiliated like this, and when we led him over to the mirror and he saw himself in his ridiculous little baby frock and frilly petticoats, with his big fluffy nappies shamefully displayed underneath, and his dummy in his mouth, he whimpered just like a very young child.

He has been kept to the wearing of nappies ever since, sometimes with the covering of fully bloomered pink frilly plastic baby pants, and lives a complete 'baby' life, feeding from a bottle, using a dummy all the time, and sleeping in a large cot. My friends make his life an utter misery with their endless teasing, and often they amuse themselves by 'putting him to the breast', which never fails to bring lots of tears from the wretched lad.I have often threatened to get a 'wet nurse' in for him, who could actually feed him at her breasts, and one day I am hoping to do so. In the meantime, the awful thought of this final humiliation of 'babyhood' keeps him in a constant state of worry, which makes his discipline even more effective.

Amanda J.

A liberty bodice, for my American friends, is a girl's close-fitting fleecy vest, which in the case of very little girls would have button holes so that a pair of fancy knickers could be buttoned on to it. This would ensure that the little miss's knickers stayed up. The American equivilant is a panty waist.

Mavis certainly sounds like a very mischievous, teasing little minx, and Amanda's stepson would have been quite overwhelmed by a girl such as her. I still think that baby discipline is best kept as a special punishment for a boy already in petticoats, because he is off little use just being a baby all the time. He needs to be trained in housework, and busy himself around the house for his mummy, or any of her friends who need some maid's work performed. This will also be of inestimable benefit with regard to his future as a docile 'house-husband'.
Susan