The Story So Far...
I'll be honest and tell you that up until the end of August, I had barely heard of To Train Up A Child, or other books like it. But then one evening, someone shared a link with me to an extract from the website No Greater Joy, the online presence of Michael and Debi Pearl, authors of parenting manual To Train Up A Child. The advice, on how to discipline a baby under the age of one with a rod made from 12" weed-eater chord, shocked me so much that I decided to research more. I looked around online, and quickly started to discover that this sort of advice, and the book To Train Up A Child, is considered quite acceptable among large groups in the States who could be referred to as Christian fundamentalists. I found there are at least two other books for sale on Amazon (both .com and .co.uk) that advocate 'smacking', 'spanking' and the use of a 'rod' on babies and small children, including Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp, and Don't Make Me Count To Three by Ginger Plowman.
As a psychotherapist who has spent several years working with both children and adults who have experienced abuse, and, perhaps more importantly, as a mother, I felt I had to act. After exploring a few possible options, I decided to write a blog post about the books, and link this to a petition with the web's leading platform for social change, change.org. And then...I waited.
The internet is a wonderful wonderful thing. News spreads in a way that we could never have imagined ten or even five years ago. The possibility and hope for change that this brings is enormous. Within days my blog post was being read by hundreds of people. Signatures started to mount up, and by the 19th September had reached 500. Two days later, high profile site 'peaceful parenting' re-published my original blog post on their own site, drmomma.org. Another 500 signatures were added in the week that followed, taking the total to 1000 by the 26th September.
Latest News...
Due to the high numbers of individuals and facebook groups who are sharing the link, this number of signatories has now risen to 2214 as I write this post. And in the past week, I have been contacted by a reporter from the New York Times who is planning to write an article about the petition and the books involved. I feel very very optimistic that, if this article goes ahead, it will have a tremendous impact, not only on the petition, but also on drawing the world's attention to these books, the parenting methods they promote, and indeed the whole debate about the corporal punishment of children. And there's more good news - the lovely people at change.org have offered their expertise and advice to me as I take the campaign forward, and they plan to help me promote my petition via their own contacts on twitter, facebook, and possibly even a mailshot to all their subscribers. In the next few days I plan to contact Amazon to let them know about the campaign, and I also have several other ideas, so please watch this space!
In the meantime, if you haven't signed yet, here are five good reasons why you should!
1. Amazon say that they do not carry 'offensive' material, and yet the content of these books, which advocate the use of a rod on small children and babies under one, IS offensive.
You can read extracts from To Train Up A Child here, and also on my original blog post. Here is a short example:
If your 10-month-old is pitching a fit because he wants to be picked up, then you must reinforce your command with a few stinging swats. You are not punishing him; you are causing him to associate his negative behavior with negative consequences. Never reward bad behavior with indifference. Tell the baby “No” and give him a swat. If your response is new, he may be offended and scream louder. But continue your normal activities as if you are unaffected. Wait one minute, and then tell the baby to stop crying. If he doesn’t, again swat him on his bare legs. You don’t need to undress him, turn him over, or make a big deal out of it. Just swat him where any skin is exposed. Continue to act as if you don’t notice the fit. Wait two minutes and repeat. Continue until the baby realizes that this is getting worse not better. Most babies will keep it going for 3 or 4 times and then slide to a sitting position and sob it out.
This is emotional and physical abuse of a baby. If you find this offensive, please sign.
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2. The deaths of three children have been linked to one of these books. These cases are terrible, and no child should ever suffer in this way. And let's also remember those children who have not died, and whose lives are not in danger, but who have been swatted with rods on a regular basis by those people whose love and approval they most crave. The long term psychological damage of such an abusive childhood spent in fear will affect these children for the rest of their lives. Some of them have been sharing their stories with me over the past week, and even as adults, they live with the pain and consequences of this abuse every day.
3. This Petition is about child protection, not religion, or the Bible.
This might sound naive of me, as of course I know that these books are part of a religious movement and way of life. I know that they use bible verses to justify their methods. But the bottom line is this - child abuse is child abuse. We need to send a clear message that the world does not approve of this way of treating children, regardless of the religious or cultural beliefs that underpin it. If however you do wish to look at the theological arguments, may I direct you to Biblical scholar Samuel Martin, who has this to say, "Michael Pearl and individuals like him represent one voice among many in the Christian world. Their folksy, unregulated, down home country preacher approach using 400 year old Bible translations to understand 3000 year old Biblical materials is a recipe for disaster. Thankfully, many trained Christian and Jewish academics at the university level forcefully condemn Pearl and his colleagues."
If you wish to send a message to the authors of these books and those who promote or follow their methods that you do not consider them to be justified under any circumstances, please sign.
4. The petition is not calling to 'ban books'.
It is simply to ask Amazon to cease to stock parenting manuals which advise the physical abuse of children. To ban a book is a very big move, with implications on freedom of speech which need to be debated at high levels before such a move is made. It is not for me to say whether this should or shouldn't happen at some stage in the future, but for now, to call for Amazon to review their policy to sell the books seems a smaller and more manageable step. With a petition with thousands of signatures, Amazon will be forced to take some kind of action, even if it is to simply respond and say that they are going to continue to sell the book. As such a high profile retailer, whatever action they take will be news worthy, and will raise awareness world wide of these books and their content. It may well then be that the question of whether the books should be banned becomes part of that debate, but this is not the aim of the petition.
If you would like to help prevent more children from suffering in this way, please sign.
3. This Petition is about child protection, not religion, or the Bible.
This might sound naive of me, as of course I know that these books are part of a religious movement and way of life. I know that they use bible verses to justify their methods. But the bottom line is this - child abuse is child abuse. We need to send a clear message that the world does not approve of this way of treating children, regardless of the religious or cultural beliefs that underpin it. If however you do wish to look at the theological arguments, may I direct you to Biblical scholar Samuel Martin, who has this to say, "Michael Pearl and individuals like him represent one voice among many in the Christian world. Their folksy, unregulated, down home country preacher approach using 400 year old Bible translations to understand 3000 year old Biblical materials is a recipe for disaster. Thankfully, many trained Christian and Jewish academics at the university level forcefully condemn Pearl and his colleagues."
If you wish to send a message to the authors of these books and those who promote or follow their methods that you do not consider them to be justified under any circumstances, please sign.
4. The petition is not calling to 'ban books'.
It is simply to ask Amazon to cease to stock parenting manuals which advise the physical abuse of children. To ban a book is a very big move, with implications on freedom of speech which need to be debated at high levels before such a move is made. It is not for me to say whether this should or shouldn't happen at some stage in the future, but for now, to call for Amazon to review their policy to sell the books seems a smaller and more manageable step. With a petition with thousands of signatures, Amazon will be forced to take some kind of action, even if it is to simply respond and say that they are going to continue to sell the book. As such a high profile retailer, whatever action they take will be news worthy, and will raise awareness world wide of these books and their content. It may well then be that the question of whether the books should be banned becomes part of that debate, but this is not the aim of the petition.
If you wish to bring these books under an international spotlight, please sign.
5. Hitting Children is a Human Rights Issue
Regardless of where you live in the world, and what your spiritual beliefs, it is wrong to hit a child. This view is backed by the NSPCC, Save the Children, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, the Royal College of Psychiatrists, and UNESCO, to name just a few. Research has shown that smacking a child does not improve children's behaviour: rather it can lead to more anti-social behaviour, more hitting of peers and siblings, and more hitting of spouses as adults. Smacking can also be damaging to children's psychological well-being, to their emotional and verbal intelligence, and their executive functioning ability. Overall most experts and leading children's advocates agree that children should be afforded the same protection from physical assault as adults by law.
If you wish to draw attention to the human rights of children, please sign.
Thank you for taking time to read, sign, and share the link. Together we can make a difference.
You can follow the campaign on facebook and keep up with news and views by clicking here.
Or on twitter @amazonpetition
Please also free to email me if you wish to get involved in any other way.
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If you wish to draw attention to the human rights of children, please sign.
Thank you for taking time to read, sign, and share the link. Together we can make a difference.
You can follow the campaign on facebook and keep up with news and views by clicking here.
Or on twitter @amazonpetition
Please also free to email me if you wish to get involved in any other way.
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Could we please have a Facebook page, would be easier to spread the word about this campaign xx
ReplyDeleteyes! go to www.facebook.com/themulesmouth
ReplyDeletethank you xxx