Did Christian parenting book contribute to child deaths?

The Los Angeles Times ^ | December 28, 2011 | Carolyn Kellogg

[TheDon]

A Christian parenting book has come under fire after the deaths of three children from abuse. The families are reported to have been following the guidance of the book "To Train Up a Child" by Michael and Debi Pearl.

The "Today" show reports:

Hana Williams, 13, died of hypothermia after allegedly being starved, abused and locked outside by her parents. Lydia Schatz, age 7, died after being repeatedly beaten by her parents. And 4-year-old Sean Paddock suffocated after his mother wrapped him in a blanket too tightly in an effort to keep him from getting out of bed.

...

[ravenwolf]

ravenwolf

do a little internet research on this and the quiverfull movement. You will see these “authors” have made a real mess of things. No, it was NOT humor, genius, these devils have caused people to kill their own children

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I read about the quiverfull movement and did not see any thing to get excited about, not that i could go for that kind of life, as far as i am concerned the less children the better. but if people are going to raise a big family they do need discipline.

I think there are nuts on both sides of the aisle here but we are individuals, we are not robots at some one elses command, or at least i am not, so i blame it entirely on the ones responsible, not the author of any book even if the author is a nut.

If we are looking for the cause of the woes of this world, the first place we should look is in the mirror.

[yldstrk]

you obviously didn’t find the websites about escaping from quiverfull

http://nolongerquivering.com/

[Tax-chick]

Nothing is as bad as represented by the Democrat Propaganda Ministry. I’m sure many readers of the Pearls’ advice are perfectly fine parents, because when they see reality, they go with reality instead of imagination.

As “cripplecreek” points out, the newspapers would believe my kids’ stories of the terrible suffering they experience because they’re expected to put their clean clothes in their drawers and other slave-labor.

[Morgana]

Having read articles about people who did read the book and acted like fools when it comes to dealing with their children I can make a logical conclusion. The parents are plumb dumb.

You don’t starve your kid.

You don’t beat your kid with a cat o’ nine tales

you don’t wrap your kid with a blanket so hard that he/she can’t breathe.

I don’t care what some book says to do that is not normal. A cat o’ nine tales? Honestly sounds like something from a porno movie.

[Morgana]

TC what did these parents read in this book that ever gave them the idea to pick up a cat o nine tales and beat their kid with it? That is a fine line between reality and imagination. I would have never dreamed of such a thing. In fact I search under “shopping” on Bing and the only place to really buy one is Amazon.com and there it is listed as a
sex fetish for halloween costumes and well you get the point. That just makes this story all the more creepy.

[Tax-chick]

The premise is that it is both possible and morally necessary for parents to “train” their children into absolute, instant, and unquestioning obedience, using operant-conditioning methods based on physical pain. I suppose it works fairly well with some children who have compliant natures.

However, it seems, from the reports that come out when the MSM finds it useful, that some parents, faced with a child who is determined not to surrender, will escalate the physical force until they kill the child. People who aren’t insane don’t even think of a cat ‘o nine tails!

[Morgana]

“The premise is that it is both possible and morally necessary for parents to “train” their children into absolute, instant, and unquestioning obedience, using operant-conditioning methods based on physical pain. I suppose it works fairly well with some children who have compliant natures.”

You have no argument with me there it is just the cat o’ nine tail really threw me. Yea no sane parent would think of using it. Which makes me wonder what did they read that it got distorted? “Spare the rod” can mean swat them with your hand, not go to your local S & M supply shop and get the goods.

[Gene Eric]

I think we can agree the parents were sorely ignorant in the treatment of their children. And I wouldn’t rule out the influential potential of the book. It’s a different matter, however, to state the book was definitively the catalyst for the unfortunate, tragic outcomes that befell the families.

[Tax-chick]

As I said, some people are just crazy.

[Morgana]

As a child I saw a cartoon that was made during WWII. Today this cartoon would not be PC.

In the cartoon a “Rosie the Riveter” type woman goes off to work and leaves JR with a sitter. Before she goes she leaves a book Called “Child Psychology” with the sitter saying “Use this it helps me”. Well you can guess JR is a brat! The sitter reads the book and does every thing it says and nothing. Finally when “Rosie” comes home the sitter tell her “we used the book but it did not help” to which “Rosie” says “Strange it always works well for me!” as she is putting JR across her knee and beating his a$$ with the book.

[Gene Eric]

Very good, LOL