‘I have the “meanest” mother in the world’, writes Judith Bond of Glen Alpine in NSW, a regular contributor of letters to the editor on Religious Right causes:

I had to eat breakfast every day and take homemade sandwiches to school …I had to wash and dry dishes, make my own bed and even keep my room neat and tidy … (Melbourne Sunday Age, 14 May 2006)

Does this ring any bells? It should. It’s been doing the rounds in one form or another since 1967 and the original version is actually copyrighted by Bobbie Pingaro:

I had the meanest mother in the whole world. While other kids ate candy for breakfast, I had to have cereal, eggs or toast. When others had cokes and candy for lunch, I had to eat a sandwich … We had to wash dishes, make beds, learn to cook and all sorts of cruel things …

One paragraph that appeared in the original rarely makes it into print today. Even Religious Right supporters know that they have to tread carefully here:

…[S]he actually struck us. Not once, but each time we had a mind of our own and did as we pleased. That poor belt was used more on our seats than it was to hold up Daddy’s pants.

Pingaro has written that she does not mind other people using her work ‘as long as it is non-profit and using my name as author’. Judith Bond of Glen Alpine NSW, please take note.

Filed in: Christian Right