Michael & Debi Pearl: Helpful or Harmful? – Pastor Peter Vik

I found this video very well worth the time. They explain their concerns with the teachings of the Pearls and of Bill Gothard very well. Pastor Vik states that he is not against all corporeal punishment, which makes this good to share with pro-spanking Christians who will not consider any arguments from non-spankers.

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Colleen’s Testimony

Coleen G. was nice enough  to share her testimony here on my blog.  I’m reposting it below so it won’t be missed. I have seen the fruits of the Pearl’s methods in my own children and at another family that we know. My friend tried to switch her toddler son until he was crying submissively and…

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Considering Adoption Reform

Whatcom Mom had an interesting comment which I would like to highlight. I’m hoping the readers here will have some ideas about improving adoption home study practice, based on what we have learned from the deaths of Hana Williams and Lydia Schatz and injuries to their siblings. So you know where I’m coming from. I’m…

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An Incriminating Video of Pearl

While I don’t like to link to sites like this, I really feel that this needs to be shown.  I have come across a video (removed by NGJ by Copyright Claim) which was clearly designed to make Michael Pearl look bad. Someone managed to get a recording of the Q & A part of one…

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Quotes from To Train Up A Child

When quoting from To Train Up A Child (written and published by Michael and Debi Pearl), we should be careful about paraphrasing. We are being accused of misquoting. Here are some quotes from the first edition of the book, which is found online here. I got the page numbers  for the 1st edition (1994) from…

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Zooey’s Arguments

It began with a feeling of uneasiness….. I started to read what had been described to me as a “Christian book for women”. That seemed OK. I mean, I am a Christian woman. But I rapidly became more & more uncomfortable with what I was reading. There was a coarseness about it that jarred with…

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Amy’s Arguments

The philosophical underpinnings of these kinds of “Christian” behaviour “training” models do not sit well with biblical theology. The more I read about Ezzo and Pearl’s behaviour modification techniques the more I am reminded of Behaviouristic psychology (the works of Skinner, Watson, Pavlov etc) Fundamentally, behavioural psychology advocates the use operant/classical conditioning for behaviour modification…

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Danielle’s arguments

“What is “wrong”, IMO, about going strictly from a training point-of-view is that children are *NOT* dogs, mules, mice, etc. (Some could pointedly argue you don’t even need to train dogs with all this “pain”.) There is a future. We do not just need our children to be manageable *today*, we hopefully want them to…

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Kathy Thile’s Arguments

“The Pearls believe that training is a separate thing from teaching and discipline. They start very early using a switch to inflict pain…to train babies to avoid things the parent wants the baby to avoid…just like a behavioral psychologist might use electric shocks and rewards to train rats to navigate a maze. In my opinion…

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Linda V’s Arguments

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.  Proverbs 22:6  KJV Train [Or Start ] a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. Proverbs 22:6 NIV It has come to my attention…

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