[TW DEATH, CHILD ABUSE] Another couple found guilty of murder for parenting by "To Train Up a Child"
Two parents in Washington state have been found guilty of murder after following the abusive parenting techniques advocated in the parenting book "To Train Up a Child".I am begging you, please sign this petition to ask Amazon to stop selling these books. The books are given out in some churches and sold under an illusion of creating a happy family. This story and the things that are encouraged in the books break my heart.
[TW CHILD ABUSE]
"Some of the discipline techniques the Pearls teach include:
- Using plastic tubing to beat children, since it hurts a lot but leaves fewer marks to alert authorities
- Wearing the plastic tubing around the parent's neck as a constant reminder to obey
- “Swatting” babies as young as six months old with instruments such as “a 12-inch willowy branch,” thinner plastic tubing or a wooden spoon
- “Blanket training” babies by hitting them with an instrument if they try to crawl off a blanket on the floor
- Beating older children with rulers, paddles, belts and larger tree branches
- “Training” children with pain before they even disobey, in order to teach total obedience
- Giving cold water baths, putting children outside in cold weather and withholding meals as discipline
- Hosing off children who have potty training accidents
- Inflicting punishment until a child is "without breath to complain.""
they're advocating for beating children as young as 6 MONTHS
they're advising people on how to avoid legal punishment for their crimes
"The Pearls and their ministry, No Greater Joy, make an estimated $1.7 million a year."
I think it's important to point out that many of the children abused, and especially those murdered, using this method, are children of color adopted by white people, often from poverty-stricken countries in Africa and Asia.