Dear Nanny Susan,

Thank you so much for giving me an idea which worked just brilliantly! I am a relatively young mother (35), separated from my husband and had never heard of petticoat discipline. Now that I have seen how effective it is, I am a born-again convert!
I have twins, Amanda, and her brother Leslie. Leslie has always complained about having a sissy name but was quite well behaved until recently. However as the children approached their twelfth birthday, he became much more noisy and disobedient, and his bedroom was just a disgrace, whereas before it had been at least half tidy.
The last straw was when they were looking through one of our old photograph albums, and they came upon a picture of the two of them taken at Christmas eight years earlier with Leslie wearing neatly pressed shorts, a white shirt, bow tie, white knee socks and a white patent leather slippers. Amanda was in one of those lovely red velvet frocks little girls wear at Christmas, in a bishop style without a waist, and with a large white lace collar. She was smiling happily and holding out the hem of her dress on each side, exposing a bit of her frilled bloomer panties underneath, and she looked beautiful. Anyway, because now she usually dresses like other girls her age in boring jeans and T-shirts, Leslie teased her and laugh at her in the photograph. Amanda almost tore it up in anger, but I took the album away and told them to behave themselves.

Then reading your advertisement gave me an idea for this Christmas. I went to my seamstress and told her I needed a really sweet dress for Leslie, and why. She has no great liking for boys and met my order with a smile of approval; in fact I got the impression petticoat discipline was something she had encountered many times in the past. She recommended an old Victorian-styled dress, and upon seeing a picture, I agreed. I also added I would want one of a similar style for Amanda.