‘To Train Up A Child’ Book Banned by New Zealand Bookseller

The bookseller was made aware of the contents by an American who was a child abuse victim and now lives in New Zealand . This is a book that was made infamous by the February 2010 actions of the Schatz family who used this as their parenting guide.

See Schatz Pound Pup Legacy files for complete coverage. Pound Pup Legacy’s summary is “8-year-old Lydia and 11-year-old Zariah (or Zacharia) were adopted by Kevin P. and Elizabeth H. Schatz from Liberia in 2007. Lydia had been beaten with a 15 inch tubing for hours for misspelling a word during a home schooling sessions, and died as a result. Zacharia was taken to the hospital in critical condition due to kidney failure, among other injuries. Both parents are charged with murder. The Schatz’s had 6 biological children and three adopted children.” The agency used was Acres of Hope. We discuss some Liberia connections with Acres of Hope here.

Stuff states:”The book, by fundamentalist United States Christians Michael and Debi Pearl, promotes using a rod, such as a branch or belt, several times on a child as a way of disciplining and training them to obey. ”

“International media outlets have reported that Kevin and Elizabeth Schatz followed the book’s instructions and subsequently beat their seven-year-old adopted daughter to death.

The Schatzes allegedly held their daughter Elizabeth down and beat her continuously on the back of her body, causing massive tissue damage.

While the book does encourage parents to use some force on their children, it does not advocate being so forceful that it causes injury.

WHAT THE BOOK SAYS:

– The book promotes thumping, smacking and hair pulling as a way of training a child to obey instructions. It compares children with dogs.

– It promotes the use of a “rod”, which the authors describe as a “divine enforcer”. It recommends using a metre-long branch or a belt on an older child and a smaller object, such as a ruler, on a younger child.

– “Any spanking to reinforce instruction, must cause pain.”

– “If you have to sit on him to spank him, do not hesitate… hold the resisting child in a helpless position for several minutes, or until he is totally surrendered.”

Violent Child Training Book Off to Censor
[Stuff 8/24/11 by Michelle Cook]

April 2011 Article on Schatz Family

The case had been postponed in December 2010. The next articles were published in April 2011.

“In a plea bargain, Kevin Schatz pled guilty to one count each of second-degree murder, torture, and misdemeanor cruelty to a child. He must serve a minimum of 22 years of a 22-to-life prison sentence.

In exchange for his guilty plea, his wife was offered a lesser sentence.

Elizabeth Schatz pled guilty to single counts of voluntary manslaughter, infliction of unlawful corporal punishment on a child, and misdemeanor cruelty to a child. She will be sentenced to 13 years, four months in prison.

Both also received a six-month county jail sentence and $20,000 fines.

The Schatzes beat 7 year-old Lydia and her 11 year-old sister Zariah repeatedly over a two-day period in February of last year after Lydia allegedly mispronounced a word in a children’s book she was reading.”

“The parents allegedly used a 15 inch length of plastic tubing used for plumbing to beat the children, a practice recommended in the book “To Train Up a Child” by Michael and Debi Pearl of No Greater Joy Ministries.

Zariah required hospitalization but recovered. Lydia died of her injuries.

During a police search of the house, a length of 15-inch plastic tubing was found on the parents’ bed next to a children’s book about a frog and a toad. Authorities say 7-year-old Lydia had been reading from the book when she mispronounced a word, which led to the beatings that continued over two days.

The girls were adopted from a Liberian orphanage four years ago, along with a baby sister. The couple’s six biological children reported that they had also been beaten with the plumbing line but none to the extent of Lydia and Zariah, who were “disciplined” for hours at a time. The other children reportedly told investigators the parents blamed the 11-year-old Zariah for “being a bad influence” on her younger siblings.”

“The Pearls advocate hurting children until parents get total compliance, starting in infancy, in order to “train” them. In his book, “To Train Up a Child,” Michael Pearl says that if parents wait until children misbehave to punish them then it’s discipline, but for total obedience they need to use pain to start training children before they misbehave.

They recommend the use of objects for both training and discipline, including willowy branches for babies and paddles, rulers and thicker tree branches for older children. Their most often recommended tool is flexible plumbing supply line, which they say is cheaply available and can be worn around the parent’s neck as a constant reminder to behave.

There are more than a million copies of “To Train Up a Child” in print today, and they are widely given out in church settings and to military families. The book is also available online at a Christian website, for free. ”

Couple pleads guilty in “No Greater Joy” beating death of child
[Examiner 4/9/11 by Alicia Bayer]

REFORM Puzzle Piece