Boycott in memory of Sean Paddock

Hat tip to Doc Sunrise for his blog profiling this issue.

http://intothesunrise.blogspot.com/2006/02/boycott-old-schoolhouse-and.html

This boycott was inspired in part by Sean Paddock's death. http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/418676.html


Paddock -- a Johnston County mother accused of murdering Sean, her 4-year-old adopted son, and beating two other adopted children -- surfed the Internet, said her attorney, Michael Reece. She found literature by an evangelical minister and his wife who recommended using plumbing supply lines to spank misbehaving children.

Sean's 9-year-old brother was beaten so badly he limped, a prosecutor said. Bruises marred Sean's backside, too, doctors found.
Sean died after being wrapped so tightly in blankets he suffocated. That, too, was a form of punishment, Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell said.
The Pearls' advice from their Web site: A swift whack with the plastic tubing would sting but not bruise. Give 10 licks at a time, more if the child resists. Be careful about using it in front of others -- even at church; nosy neighbors might call social workers. Save hands for nurturing, not disciplining. Heed the warning, taken from Proverbs in the Old Testament, that sparing the rod will spoil the child.

A boycott of Homeschoolerblogger is being called for because it is supported by the OldSchool House magazine which carries advertisements and publishes articles of support by Michael and Debbie Pearl who are proponents of highly questionable methods of discipline.

http://intothesunrise.blogspot.com/2006/02/boycott-old-schoolhouse-and.html

Why boycott these sites? HomeschoolBlogger is supported by The Old SchoolHouse Magazine. The Old Schoolhouse magazine in turn provides ad space for and publishes articles that support or are contributed by Michael and Debbie Pearl, who are proponents of abusive discipline practices. The editor of TOS magazine, Gena Suarez, refuses to apologize for her statements to the press in regards to the child's death - instead, she chose to support the proponents of child abuse, The Pearls, whom the mother of the dead child turned to for "discipline" advice. .....HSB is now deleting blogs of those clients who support components of the boycott.The Pearls market heavily to homeschoolers, hitting all major homeschooling conventions and curriculum sales, and advertising heavily in homeschooling publications.LEAVE HOMESCHOOLBLOGGER - accepting their free service is the same as accepting child abuse.

http://intothesunrise.blogspot.com/2006/02/boycott-old-schoolhouse-and.html has an excerpt from Mr. Pearl's site on his blog:

Dear Pearls,I am a pastorÂ?s wife and have a question for you. Is it right to spank a 7-month-old for crying when put down for bed?CharityIf the child has been mistrained, or if you have failed to provide a good prelude to sleep, and the child rises up to fight and resist, you should evaluate your whole procedure so as to improve your pre-sleep ritual for tomorrow night. But for the moment, you must constrain the child to obey authority and remain lying down. You may have to prove the power of your word by enforcing it with one or two stinging licks (applied with a small flexible switch) to the childÂ?s leg that says to the child, Â?There is no reward for getting up; Mama means business; she is not going to give over to my demands; the path to greatest pleasure is to go to sleep; there is no alternative; my parents always get their way; what can I say? Good night.Â?

Can you believe this? A Pastor telling someone to spank a seven month old ? A Pastor saying a child has been "mistrained"? I can't get that image of a beautiful seven month old child getting a "licking" with a "small flexible switch" for crying.

There are a lot of spiritual questions in this world that I have questions about about, but one that I am sure of is that God does not want you to beat or murder your own child. There is no doubt.

God bless that little boy Sean Paddock and God bless any child that is getting a switch used on them when they are still in the crib. The cruelty of this is unspeakable.