re: Did your parents make you say yes sir/ma'am to them?

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No, but I say it to others. To this day.

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Which is the intended result of the practice, anyway.

Yes. I still say yes and no ma'am to my mother to this day. I also don't curse in front of her. When I smoked cigs I never smoked around her out of respect. My mother is old fashioned and I will respect that when with her.

No because my parents believed I should have free will to choose my own life path. I could willingly choose to say it or willingly choose the belt.

To other parents.
They were all officers and their wives.

My dad regarded me as navigator. It was all business. I was getting flying lessons at age 4.
Drove the command car at age 7.

There was never one instant when I thought to do or say one word that crossed him.

When he began to teach me yoga at age 12, he showed me a pose, had me do it. Said "any questions"?
Then, he said "do it every day".
Every week or two he would come in my room and have me do my routine.
Sometimes he'd show a pose I was not responsible for at that age.

When I was 14, he and a neighbor, west pointer, brought the three boys into living room. Rolled out rice paper onto a rug with some pile, so not really flat. Said walk but no tears. I objected. Not fair, the rug is not like a floor. They immediately both walked it with no tears.
We sirred them and ma'am'd the women.

It came naturally.
We were raised up to it.

A colonel across the street I did yardwork for told me not to sir him.
Said, call me Jack.
Took him a long time to make general because his wife was alcoholic.
Nice though. I played piano. She let me use her organ and her sheet music when my dad was off tdy teaching koreans how to fly.

The officers and wives really made sure we kept it together when my dad was away.

It was tight group. Real appreciation for our circumstances.
They all flew together.

Yes

If you knew me you would know the answer.

My dad's side of the family is from colder climates, mom's side is from rural Arkansas. I said ma'am most of the time, but it wasn't pressed on me very hard.

But when I went to college and spent more time around my mom's family, especially my uncles, it became a habit pretty quick.

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Did your parents make you say yes sir/ma'am to them?

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No

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They did teach my siblings and me to say sir and ma'am to all other parents, authority figures, elders, etc.

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This.

They would have thought it odd for me to use sir/ma'am with them. I always suspected that comes from the French with formal vs. familiar.

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teeth, do chores and all the other shite kids used to have to do. Limited TV time too.

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kids still do these things