Teresa Pitman points out that the methods recommended by these people the 
Pearls are illegal in Canada.  In Norway too.  In fact, it is against the law to 
strike another person here for any reason except in defense of your own life, 
and I think boxing matches, if they are allowed at all, have to take place 
under special dispensations to allow punching.  No kidding.  Since children are 
considered to be people, they are protected by the general prohibition on 
striking others.  Of course there are people here who lose control of 
themselves and hit others, including their children, and the law is relatively 
new so many many parents have been raised with spankings and blows as a 
routine part of their upbringing, but the only people who publicly argue against 
the laws that forbid hitting children are immigrants.  Many Norwegians are 
incredulous when I tell them that spanking and other forms of corporal 
punishment, even in some schools, are widely accepted as necessary to the 
proper upbringing of a child in the US; they think of the use of violence in 
child-rearing as a sign of a very primitive society.  
I'm with Teresa, and Mary Jozwiak.  I feel slightly nauseated at the thought 
that people buy such books, and give them to others, with the delusion that 
something good will come from it.  I feel even more nauseated that someone 
sits down and writes them, with premeditation.  Reminds me of a woman I was 
in college with who bragged that her father had drilled holes in the wooden 
paddle he used to smack them with, so there would be less air resistance as 
the paddle approached their bodies and he could get more force behind the 
blow.  I guess we were meant to be impressed by his technological know-how 
but I was just impressed that she considered it worthy of boasting about.

Breastfeeding is a normal human activity, like eating, sleeping and perspiring.  
Just because a mother does it doesn't mean she is automatically perfect in 
every other way - that is another aspect of the 'breast is best' myth.  Given 
the choice between someone who breastfeeds but uses tubing or rulers to 
wollop their child with from the age of four months and someone who lovingly 
provides sufficient calories and nutrients with the aid of commercially prepared 
breastmilk substitute while nurturing the child's soul with respect, I'd trade 
away the breastfeeding any old day.

Rachel Myr
Kristiansand, Norway

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