A few words about giving enemas to children and the topic of "punishment." Some of us had parents who administered enemas for reasons other than strictly "health" related ones. My parents were both born in the 1930s and would often talk about regularity and the importance having of a daily BM. They had a fixation on BMs and constipation being the cause of illnesses and misbehavior, particularly in children. My brother and I were "warned" that if we didn't we eat our dinner and swallow a spoonful of molasses every night, we could have trouble going to the bathroom and Mom would have to give us an enema. My brother and I received several enemas between the ages of 4-10.
My parents used enemas a form of punishment. They threatened us that if we did not do as we were told, we would see the "water bag." The situations that I can remember getting an enema were when my brother or I misbehaved and a paddling did not change our behavior. We would get paddled if we misbehaved in church or school, refused to eat food that was prepared or refused to do chores. If our behavior was really bad, my father thought it was because of the food we were eating and that we were constipated and needed to be cleaned out. He would blame my mother for feeding us junk and ask her to give us an enema. There was, therefore, an odd psychology in my parents in terms of why and when an enema was needed. Many of the times we received enemas, we were not even constipated. An enema was supposed to cleanse out the "bad" parts of children, I suppose. I can see why this method was chosen because enemas were terrifying to my brother and me. They were not administered in a loving way; rather, my mother was always angry at us before administering them and would tell us that we brought them on ourselves because we were bad. She would tell us early in the day that it was our day for an enema, plausibly to induce greater fear. Then my brother and I would cry and beg her not to give us one--of course to no avail. We would have to lay down on our bellies on the cold floor of the bathroom on a thin towel and the other family members would watch. The whole experience was painful and an act of punishment, not of love.
In my personal upbringing, enemas were used as one of many ways of controlling disobedient children. My parents listened to their local pastor and the clear instructions from the ministry on disciplining children. They were told to "beat the will out of" children. I routinely would see small children being vigorously spanked and scolded in the ladies' room at church if they misbehaved during the church service.
I've posted this detail so that readers are aware that there are all kinds of parents out there and the reasons for giving enemas vary from family to family.