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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