Thanks for reading and commenting, Ms. Norma.

Well, I was lost in translation, here, I guess!

I think I meant something along the lines of "(S)He that will not hear, must feel." or "If you don't want to listen, find out the hard way." (That are the proverb translations I found.)

I was honestly conflicted about your - albeit honest - reaction about "stopping" raging kids. My Mom did that a handful of times in my life, and it had such impact on me that I never provoked the situation in which I received the blow ever again.

Of course Vince did misbehave as a child, but we all tend to "forget" our first (around) four years (when we're acting out most) - that Childhood "amnesia" is normal and caused by the rapidly developing brain.

Also, his mother or father never smacked him (as far as he remembers), and his sisters did not do that with their kids, at least not in his presence. It gets incredibly loud sometimes, yes (Italians, hallo!?), but, well, probably that's the reason for the impact.

Also true is that the "father" Vince did not make it to the finish line (his wife was killed about 6 weeks before the calculated birthday), but in him has been forming a "part" that would've blossomed into a real father had he had the chance and that during the length of the pregnancy (yup, not only women undergo that "development" into a parent).

However, this part is still in him and sometimes - like in that situation - very strong and prominent. To his credit, he later figures out why she reacted that way.