Phillip Jones sent an account of his childhood early bedtime upbringing

My mother was determined to keep me as, ‘her little boy’ for as long as possible.
I had to call her mummy at all times and was not allowed to progress from wearing my schoolboy short trousers.

Can you imagine the embarrassment of a boy of fourteen years of age wearing grey flannel short trousers along with a  white school shirt, tie and grey knee-socks? Any protest on my part would result in a trip across mothers lap for a bare bottom spanking.

What was even worse than attending school dressed as a little boy was having to wear this uniform out of school too. I was often taken visiting in my schoolboy uniform to my aunt's house, I always felt very foolish as my cousin Daisy, who was a year younger than me would tease me about my appearance.

My bedtime throughout this period was 6.30 pm which remained the same up until 
I left home, again if I made a fuss I would be disciplined and threatened with an even earlier bedtime of 6 o’clock which meant I would have had to be in my pyjamas by 5 o’clock as mummy always insisted an hours ‘quiet time” in pyjamas before bedtime.

My cousin, aunts, neighbours and obviously my sister Wendy have all seen me being put across mummy's lap before being dispatched to bed. My cousin even today teases me about how they used to enjoy watching as mummy undressed me and put me into my little boy striped pyjamas ready for bed, sometimes I was so upset I wet the bed and then mummy would think nothing of pinning me into a nighttime nappy and plastic pants with a dummy and a bedtime bottle of milk then put me into one of my sisters hand-me-down  pink winceyette nightdresses to teach me that if I behaved like a baby I would be treated as one.

I was 16 before I tried to rebel Mummy. I remember mummy said, “Come along Phillip, it’s five thirty, time to get you bathed and into your jimmy-jams ready for bed.”

I complained, saying that it was so unfair that my sister was allowed normal teenage clothes, and that she was allowed to go out at the weekends. and had no bedtime, indeed she could go to bed any time she liked.

Mummy told me that my behaviour and attitude was very childish, that is why she still treat me like a silly, naughty little boy and that I was the type of male who would always need strict guidance from a female.

So her dominance continued. Mother even handpicked a girlfriend for me, it was someone I knew from Sunday school, but she got frustrated as we could not go out for very long because of my early bedtimes but she became good friends with mother who began paying her to act as my babysitter, she even began to spank me and get me ready for bed even earlier than mother did, sometimes she would put me into pyjamas by 4 pm and have me tucked up into bed before 5 pm, many times I would cry myself to sleep.

It was not until I left home that I met other women. As you can imagine, as an inexperienced shy 22 year old, I had some disastrous relationships, but then I met a girl who later became my wife. 

She was different from the rest and I knew from the beginning she was a woman who enjoyed being with me despite my timid nature.

One night in bed, she began to ask me about my childhood and then it all came out and I explained my strict upbringing. My wife said that now she knew the truth she understood things that had puzzled her about my personality and asked if I was perhaps secretly wanting to revisit the rigid discipline of my youth.

She became good friends with my mother and discovered all the details about my upbringing and how I was kept under strict early bedtime and pyjama discipline.

Her first act was to reintroduce my pyjama times and early bedtimes and began treating me like a little boy again, I even have some grey shorts. My mother-in-law is now my babysitter and I now have three women who tuck me in and kiss me goodnight.