He ain't no Santa Clause. It's titled, "To Train Up a Child" -- a "parenting book" written by Michael and Debi Pearl (pictured above) that first found popularity almost 20 years ago. And the book still apparently finds an audience on Amazon -- never mind that it "has been linked to three deaths in seven years."
And this literary classic's continued fandom is little mystery to me. To provide a little taste, just enough to wet your beak: From the info contained in the linked articles, I've attempted to distill the book's purported parenting advice into a sort of rudimentary Ten Commandments for Parents. Here goes (in no particular order):
1. Start the kid young on a regular "training" regiment that involves giving the tot a good beatin' daily with a leather strap or belt.
2. If that's not effective in training up the child, then go to town on the tike with a "one-foot-long ruler" (not 6 inches, mind you, but the full 12).
3. If that too doesn't work, graduate the brat up to a nice wooden yardstick.
4. Still having trouble? Then do a number on the nestling with a "large tree branch."
5. And if all else fails, get yourself a big "rod" and lay the metal down on the lad.
6. If the toddler is particularly quick, elusive and hard to catch, then "do not hesitate" to "sit on him" in order to administer the beatdown.
7. Be sure to "hold him down until he has surrendered."
8. The goal should always be to "defeat him totally."
9. Remember: Your unflinching goal must always be to instill, just like in a young puppy dog or a fledgling member of the Hitler Youth, an "unquestioning obedience" to your authority.
10. Therefore, behind every good beating or maiming is a "purpose to condition the child's mind and to make them surrender completely to their parents' authority."
So there you have it: All you'd ever want to know about child-rearing in ten simple, violent talking points. If only I'd heard of this book a few days ago when I was in need of a few last minute stocking stuffers. But oh well: They got nunchucks instead.
http://www.theweek.co.uk/society/56470/train-child-spanking-book-blamed-over-murders
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2522770/Inside-extreme-child-rearing-guide-advocates-whipping-children-belts-branches---linked-deaths-seven-years.html
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