Sarah Presswood’s Testimony and a Comment from Kysyra

I got a nice message on the Facebook Page from Sarah Presswood which she graciously gave me permission to share.

I am so grateful that I found your site. My parents used To Train Up A Child by the Pearls and taught/utilized Growing Kids Gods Way as their parenting guides my entire childhood and adolescence. I grew up fearing them, never trusting them, and gradually distancing myself the older I became. The emotional abuse that I was subjected to has been something that I continually struggle with. When I became pregnant with my son, I was immediately gifted with the Pearl’s book and pressured to use it exclusively. My son is now 14 months old and I announced publicly my opposition to spanking (for many reasons, but the recent study citing mental health problems was my platform). I immediately received vicious messages from family members telling me how stupid I was for believing those lies. My dad told me that not spanking my son is going against God and that my decision will have serious spiritual consequences. Google brought me to your site and I feel so validated. I never knew that their were Christians who were against spanking and this site has helped me so so much. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Along a similar line, I just got a comment from kysyra saying,

Thank you for this whole website. I read the book and once tried to write a comment akin to yours, but I just can’t do it.
What I think is worst about the whole thing, is that throughout the text he writes about love and respect so much and so sincerely. There is even a long section explaining how important respect towards the child and his needs are!
There are whole sections I could copy out to any AP-parents and they would sign them.
I can see how this book can make basically good people believe that complete surrender and physical pain would be necessary to raise “good” kids.
My older one is not a “good” kid in his sense at all.
But she is a sweet, empathic, social, generous kid, even when she is disobedient…
the little one, I have no idea how she will turn out yet. Except, that at 11 months she (and I with her of course) was hospitalized for a week, sharing the room with another small boy. One day he had to be alone for some hours. As his mother and I had agreed upon, I took as much care of him as I could, putting him on my bed, between my girl and me. He cried for his mother and cried and cried.
And my little, very sick, baby? she looked at him sadly, shook her head, and stroked his head and back until he was calmer…
Just imagine she had been raised believing that beatings were in order!
I like my kids the way they are, even if they are not “good” in the Pearls’ sense!

I thank God for using me and this site to help Sarah, kysyra and others like them.

1 Comment

  1. A gentle parent on December 11, 2013 at 5:04 am

    Hello.

    I too was raised in a “Christian” family and suffered corporal punishment often. It did not teach me respect, it taught me fear and destroyed my self worth and I NEVER understood what I’d done to deserve it.

    When I became a father, and I am still a Christian, I knew without doubt that I could never physical harm my daughter. My rod of correction has always been my voice and as she has got older logic – explaining why something is wrong. If she is naughty she loses priveleges, if she is good she earns them back, or earns something extra. Most of all my little girl knows I love her wether I am happy with her or angry with something she has done.

    Children often make mistakes NOT because they are naughty but simply because they are children.

    Having to resort to physical hurt to “discipline” a child is WEAK – it only shows your own failings.

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