Optimum positions

Yes, I'd go for a most traditional OTK position, ideally on a good substantial leather sofa almost every time.

Replacing the hand with a hairbrush, my only adjustment would be to make sure there was better support than for the hand spanking because the hairbrush can hurt a lot and it may be necessary to restrain the subject from trying to wriggle away.

Using a standard belt or strap (e.g. the type manufactured with the purpose of holding your trousers up) you probably want to get a bit more swing than is realistic with the girl across your lap but you want her bottom to be well supported so she can't move it away from the implement.  I'd consider a number of options here but ideally there should be a bit of a bend so the back of a sofa, the arm of a chair or face down on the bed with a pillow strategically placed to lift her bottom up a bit would be my ideal.

If we're talking about an actual slipper or flip-flop for example in the domestic environment, then I'd probably take an approach similar to that for the belt above.  However, if you read around credible accounts of life in UK schools in, say, the 1950's and 1960's, "the slipper" was widely used as the name for what was actually a plimsoll/gymshoe.  I'm going to write a longer piece on this instrument soon because it's clear that it was widely used, in particular for less official punishments.  While many different teachers seem to have drawn on the widespread availability of such items in a school and the fact that their presence was less a cause for alert than the sight of cane hanging up, it would hardly be surprising that the most frequent user of such implement would be the PE or games staff. As such, it's absolutely ideal fro the girl to be bent over some convenient piece of sports equipment such as a vaulting horse.

If the girl in question is fortunate enough to be able to adopt the classic "touch your toes" position then it seems eminently suitable for a good swift caning, with legs straight and together  As well as probably being very uncomfortable there is also the risk of falling forward or coming out of position and therefore the threat of extra strokes if that should happen can only add to the girl's misery and enhance the impression of the experience.

If you're going to give a really hard or longer caning, or the girl is a bit older and less flexible, I think you have to be realistic and have her bend across a desk or chair although she should still have legs straight and together.  Clearly she might still incur extra penalties, for example by standing up, but there's not much point in setting up a situation where she never has any chance of staying in place long enough for you to complete the punishment.

Of course the tawse can be applied across the bottom just as the cane could be applied across the hands, but to me it always seems more sensible to stick to caning the bottom and tawsing the hands.  I know that when the cane was used in UK schools, especially on girls, it was often across the hands but it always seemed a rather risky process.  I made that comment to a friend of mine who happens to provide services as a mistress and she immediately demonstrated to me that she could cane my hands safely and effectively (ouch!).  However, choose the tawse, and I'd expect the girl to hold her hands out in front of her, one on top of the other as pictured here and half way through to change the hands over.

Moving across the pond to the US and the land of the wooden paddle, I don't think it's realistic for the girl to have to bend over with her legs straight and together and not supported by a chair or desk - there's a lot more momentum than with the cane and there's no point in knocking her off her feet with each blow.

Moving up to judicial punishment such as the birch, I think it is almost essential that the girl is secured in place.  Properly applied it is going to be intensely painful and it's essential for basic safety as well as being able to complete the punishment that the recipient has minimum scope for movement.

Okay that's a quick roundup of my view of optimum position for each of the more common instruments - anyone have any different views?