Breaking a Child's Will The Evangelical family's twisted obsession with corporal punishment.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

23. "To Train Up a Child"

To Train Up a Child is a 1994 parenting advice book written and self-published by independent Baptists Michael and Debi Pearl, which has generated controversy for encouraging child abuse. The book has been endorsed by the Institute of Basic Life Principles. To Train Up a Child gained notoriety after methods recommended in the book were found to have contributed to several high-profile cases of child death.[3]

Michael Pearl (born 1945)[4] is an American independent Baptist preacher and author. After graduating from Mid-South Bible College, he worked with Union Mission in Memphis for 25 years.[5] His 2006 graphic novel Good and Evil[6] won the Independent Publishers' IPPY Award Bronze Medal in the Graphic Novel/Drama category in 2009[7] and was a 2009 ForeWord Book Award finalist.[8] His other publications include No Greater Joy Magazine,[9] Training Children to be Strong in Spirit,[10] and Created to Be His Help Meet.[11]

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To Train Up a Child has been criticized for advocating child abuse. The book tells parents to use objects like a 0.25 in (6.4 mm) diameter plastic tube to spank, or assault, children and "break their will". It recommends other abusive tactics like withholding food and putting children under a cold garden hose.[4][16] Its teachings are linked to the deaths of Sean Paddock,[17] Lydia Schatz,[18] and Hana Grace-Rose Williams.[19] In all three cases, homeschooling parents acted on the Pearls' teachings.