A petition to remove a controversial parenting book from Amazon has resurfaced on social media this week. To Train Up a Child, written by Michael and Debi Pearl, bills itself as a Christian-centered guide to “Child Training for the 21st Century.” However, many parents feel that the book’s advice encourages child abuse. To Train Up a Child contains passages describing a variety of harsh parenting techniques, including:
- striking children as young as four months old with various implements
- spanking children until they are “totally broken”
- taking outside and hosing off in cold weather a three-year-old after a bathroom accident
Critics have linked the book to multiple child deaths in recent years. In 2006, 4-year-old Sean Paddock “was bound so tightly in blankets that he suffocated” according to authorities. Meanwhile, in 2010 the parents of Lydia Schatz beat the 7-year-old to death with plastic tubing. A year later, 11-year-old Hana Williams died of malnutrition and hypothermia after her parents deprived her of food and made her sleep outside. In all three cases the court found the children’s parents guilty of murder.
Amazon and the Author Respond
The petition calls on Amazon to “urgently review their decision to stock any book or other product which advises physical abuse of children.” However, Amazon has stated that it “does not endorse the content of any book it offers,” before continuing, “This book has been widely debated in the media, and on Amazon, for many years and anyone who wishes to express their views about this title is free to do so on its product page on our website.”
Amazon’s policy on Offensive and Controversial Materials states that it “does not allow products that promote, incite or glorify hatred, violence, racial, sexual, or religious intolerance or promote organizations with such views.” Meanwhile, their Content Guidelines for Books says “we provide our customers with access to a variety of viewpoints, including books that some customers may find objectionable.”
Currently the controversial parenting book remains available for sale on Amazon. Meanwhile, the petition to have it removed has reached 101,520 signatures. In a blog post written in 2010, Michael Pearl said, “I laugh at my caustic critics, for our properly-spanked and trained children grow to maturity in great peace and love.”
Amazon Sells Controversial Parenting Book That Some Call Child Abuse – Sources:
fatherly.com, change.org, babble.com, WRAL, salon.com, New York Times, Amazon Content Guidelines for Books, Amazon Offensive and Controversial Materials, Blog of Nadine Dorries, NGJ Ministries
