A switch is a flexible rod, typically used for corporal punishment of the birching type, called switching after it, especially when using a single branch: multiple branches are rather called a rod, a less flexible single rod is rather called a cane, an inflexible one a stick. This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Birching is corporal punishment with a birch rod, typically a spanking given on the delinquents buttocks, alternatively on the back and/or over the shoulders. ... Caning is corporal punishment (see that article for generalities and alternatives) with a cane, generally applied on the bare or clad buttocks (see spanking), hand(s) (palm, rarely knuckles) or even the soles of the feet. ...

It makes an ominous 'swoosh' sound rather like a whip and can be agitated up and down quickly, so the lashes can rain down on the victim, who is usually a spankee, mostly bare bottom so it can 'bite' the skin. While young children usually suffer it over the knee (or rather the lap) it can be more painful if the discipliner makes more elbow-room by ordering the punishee to lie or bend over an object, which can, especially if standing, increase the humiliation by exposing the genitals.

Switches are most efficient (i.e. painful and durable) if made of a strong but flexible type of wood, such as hazel or hickory; as the use of their names for disciplinary implements, without specification, and as verbs for lashing, indicates, birch and willow branches are time-honoured favorites, but branches from most strong trees and large shrubs can be used, often simply nearby from a garden, an orchard or the wild. This article is about the tree; for other meanings of hazel, see Hazel (disambiguation). ... Species See text Hickory is a tree of the genera Carya and Annamocarya. ... Species About 350, including: Salix acutifolia - Violet Willow Salix alaxensis - Alaska Willow Salix alba - White Willow Salix alpina - Alpine Willow Salix amygdaloides - Peachleaf Willow Salix arbuscula - Mountain Willow Salix arbusculoides - Littletree Willow Salix arctica - Arctic Willow Salix atrocinerea Salix aurita - Eared Willow Salix babylonica - Peking Willow Salix barrattiana - Barratts...

Making a switch is simply called cutting, as it only involves cutting it from the stem and removing twigs or directly attached leaves as those would lessen its sting (hence deliberately left for sauna use). For optimal flexibility it is cut fresh shortly before use, rather then keeping it for re-use over considerable time.

Parents in the United States (where the wider paddle is the most common spanking implement) are reputed to threaten disobedient children with gifts of utilitarian coal and switches for Christmas should they not reform their behavior, although the actual practice of this is rare to the vanishing point, especially as most people live in urban areas where less suitable wood is easily at hand for the old-fashioned woodshed treatment and most modern educators consider such severe physical discipline cruel and it is often banned by law as child abuse. Holed paddle designed for spanking. ... Spanking (or smacking, whacking, etc. ... Coal is a fossil fuel extracted from the ground by deep mining, coal mining (open-pit mining or strip mining). ... Christmas (literally, the Mass of Christ) is a holiday in the Christian calendar, usually observed on December 25, which celebrates the birth of Jesus. ... An Australian Hay Shed A shed is generally a modest structure, usually constructed of wood (hence the name woodshed) in a back garden or on an allotment, used for storage and as a workshop. ...