Dear Miss Candida,

I am delighted that more and more ladies are making use of petticoating and baby treatment as a means of controlling their husbands, or unruly and difficult teenage sons.

There can be no doubt at all about the effectiveness of this form of discipline. Just imagine, for instance, what the feelings must be the feelings of a once-arrogant and conceited lad of 17 or 18, dressed up in a dear little baby frock and frilly lace petticoats, prettily be-dummied, and with his shameful nappies humiliatingly on view, when he is brought out to face a circle of laughing and jeering schoolgirls! Or of a husband, similarly attired, who must sit in his play pen, playing with his dollie, while his wife entertains some of her lady friends.

Of course there are all sorts of delicious little refinements of humiliation which can be introduced to make the discipline even more effective, and even more unpleasant and shaming for the unhappy 'victim'. Making a grown boy or man, for example, talk in a high-pitched babyish lisp, using only words that a very young child would use, is a wonderful way of driving home to him the utter ridiculousness of his position, and if, at the same time, the poor silly 'baby' has to keep his dummy in his mouth, the result is a meaningless babble guaranteed to make any girl who listens to him squeal with laughter at his expense.

Naturally, once he is in his nappies, 'Baby' is forbidden all use of the toilet, and this again can lead to delightfully amusing situations, when the poor thing can no longer contain himself and has to wet his nappies in front of his tormentors! While it is a good idea to use rubber baby pants, or pretty pink plastic panties, at night, when he is in his cot, they should never be worn during the day, so that his babyishness is made fully evident to everyone.

I have seen my own husband on many occasions, go through agonies of squirming and wriggling about helplessly in his play pen before he can no longer control himself, which brings a mocking cheer from anybody who happens to be visiting. I often pull his little frock and petticoats up and point out that my pitiful 'baby' is not yet potty-trained, and that he cannot possibly be taken out of nappies until he is!

It is, I suppose, one of the worst humiliations of baby treatment that it leaves the victim thoroughly deflated and with no vestige of self-respect. It is bad enough to have his nappies changed in front of other females, leaving him shamelessly exposed to all their laughter and sneering comments, but it can be made even worse for him if visitors are actually allowed to change him.

Just imagine what it must be like, for instance, for my own husband when some attractive young lady visitor takes him on her lap, lifts his frock and petticoats out of the way, and proceeds with amused contempt to go through the doting mother's routine of powdering him, and rubbing baby oil in, before finally pinning the squirming wretch up in his clean fleecy nappy!

For a youth undergoing baby treatment, the humiliation is probably even greater, particularly if the job is carried out by girls not much younger than himself. At that age so many lads look down on the female sex, but the situation is indeed changed when he must submit to being handled so ignominiously by some scornful young miss while the rest of the girls stand around giggling and tickling him under the chin, and telling him exactly what they think of him!

Oh yes! Petticoats and nappies are undoubtedly the finest way of keeping any male subordinate to feminine rule, and long may it continue. I would urge any wife, or mother, who has not yet tried it to put her husband or Master Troublesome back where he belongs - in the nursery!
Yours truly,

Dora

Dora wrote a number of letters to various journals, and she was absolutely committed to nursery discipline, as this example of her correspondence shows. Certainly there is nothing quite as devastating and effective as dummy discipline in the handling of any troublesome hubbies or sons within the domestic environment.

These letters were published more than twenty years ago now, so I do not know if Dora is connected to the internet. I would certainly like to have an article from her about the best ways to administer babying. She is a very good example to all aspiring 'Mummies'.
Susan