I bought Dobson's Dare to Discipline

[Wugmama]

at a garage sale for $.50 for the express purpose of putting it in the garbage so it would not fall into the hands of someone seeking parenting advice.

What a crappy book.

~Tracy

[peacelovingmama]

Good for you.

Dobson scares me. When people tell me that they respect him, I often bring up his anecdote about beating his tiny dog with a belt (because the dog was sleeping in the wrong spot). Sadly, it takes this tale of animal abuse to get some people to consider that his treatment of children is also abusive.

[Wugmama]

Oh my gosh. :Puke

[irinam]

Good thinking mama!

[paxye]

one less book to get into the wrong hands....good doing mama!

[hubris]

I own a copy, it's my mom's parenting Bible and I wanted to read it so that I could speak intelligently about it to her. Couldn't make it through, it was even more awful than I had expected. His attitude toward children SUCKS. Explains a lot about my mom...

[Joannarachel]

The title of this post scared me :

[tempestjewel]

Originally Posted by Joannarachel

The title of this post scared me :

:

[Brigianna]

Originally Posted by peacelovingmama

Good for you.

Dobson scares me. When people tell me that they respect him, I often bring up his anecdote about beating his tiny dog with a belt (because the dog was sleeping in the wrong spot). Sadly, it takes this tale of animal abuse to get some people to consider that his treatment of children is also abusive.

On another site I frequent (non-parenting-related) there is much criticism of Dobson, mostly for his political views, and he is referred to as "the dog-beater." I suggested that he be called "the child-beater" instead, because while dog-beating is certainly disturbing, it's what he advocates doing to children that's really reprehensible. And I used that to talk about how children are the only members of society whose rights you're not "supposed" to advocate for, and how treatment of children is very much a public issue that people should not be afraid to take a stand on. I'm not sure I changed anybody's mind, but at least I brought it up.

Animals really do have more social rights than children--you can say openly, in mixed company, "I think beating a dog is cruel," and it won't be controversial. But if you criticize beating a child, you're being "judgemental" because child-beating is a "personal choice."

Sad, really...

[paxye]

Originally Posted by Brigianna

Animals really do have more social rights than children--you can say openly, in mixed company, "I think beating a dog is cruel," and it won't be controversial. But if you criticize beating a child, you're being "judgemental" because child-beating is a "personal choice."

Sad, really...

Very Sad...

I still can't wrap my mind around that line of thought....

[bellona]

Hey! I was raised according to Dobson's beliefs and, well, I didn't die.

That's more than I could say if I was Ezzo-ized



(I will be in therapy until my 102nd birthday, but it's good for the economy, right?)

[amj'smommy]

: another recovering "raised on Dobson" here.... "Focus on the Family"... yeah right : I bought that book and Ezzo's book at our local Goodwill... then promptly threw them out. Best $1.60 I ever spent

[peacelovingmama]

Originally Posted by Brigianna

On another site I frequent (non-parenting-related) there is much criticism of Dobson, mostly for his political views, and he is referred to as "the dog-beater." I suggested that he be called "the child-beater" instead, because while dog-beating is certainly disturbing, it's what he advocates doing to children that's really reprehensible. And I used that to talk about how children are the only members of society whose rights you're not "supposed" to advocate for, and how treatment of children is very much a public issue that people should not be afraid to take a stand on. I'm not sure I changed anybody's mind, but at least I brought it up.

Animals really do have more social rights than children--you can say openly, in mixed company, "I think beating a dog is cruel," and it won't be controversial. But if you criticize beating a child, you're being "judgemental" because child-beating is a "personal choice."

Sad, really...

I'm glad you are helping people make this connection. I too am baffled by why beating small dogs disturbs many people more than beating babies. : I am a huge animal-lover (with 3 dogs and we would never hit them) but I do think that his advocacy of child-beating is more disturbing than his description of his own animal abuse.

[PikkuMyy]

With DH selling on eBay and Amazon, I have frequent opportunities to attend garage and library sales and go to used bookshops.

I take advantage of all of them for this very purpose. It helps me when there isn't an interesting section for me to look in or a type of book he wants me to find. I hunt through the parenting sections to look for these types of books.

[thefragile7393]

Originally Posted by peacelovingmama

I'm glad you are helping people make this connection. I too am baffled by why beating small dogs disturbs many people more than beating babies. .

They both disturb me equally. Where I worked, in a mental health clinic for kids, these two things often fed into a viscious circle---beating animals often led to beating spouses/partners and/or children. Beaten children often led to beating animals because of mimicking what had been done to them or for other reasons. If you have no problems being cruel to an animal (a "lesser" living soul), then you will have no problems being cruel to your spouse/partner and/or children (I experienced this firsthand with first husband). If you have no problems being cruel to a child, then you will have no problems being cruel to an animal, a "lesser" living soul.

[Wugmama]

Coincidentally, there is a Dobson commentary on CNN today. I emailed CNN and asked them not to feature him and/or mention his books (as they did at the introduction to his commentary - which I didn't read). I told them he advocates child and animal abuse and if they give his books national attention by mentioning them on their site they could inadvertently harm a child whose parents are prompted to buy his book(s). They probably won't listen to me though, but I tried.

Very sad to see his books mentioned there.

Sorry for the scary title to the thread. Cheap trick to get people to read my thread.

~Tracy

[sally Z]

i briefly had the missfotune to glace at one of his parenting books, i think it was this one and he was discussion what you could hit kids with! As if hitting them was not bad enough he spend times discussing the various things you can use

[RomanGoddess]

I'm very curious. What exactly and specifically does the book advocate (apart from the generalities like "child abuse")? Just spanking (no, I am not advocating spanking at all but there are a lot of parents who spank and they are not classified as child abusers). Is there something more to it? I have not read the book and I am curious to know what all the fuss is about.

[Wugmama]

WARNING - don't read following if you don't like child abuse stories!!!






Not this particular book of his but a different one I thumbed through at the bookstore had a "success" story in it from a Dobson fan. It went something like this:

"My 3 yr old dropped his orange peeling on the floor - something he is not allowed to do. I said in a firm voice, 'pick that up'. He said, 'no'. So I calmly got the paddle..."

At that point I was feeling faint and couldn't read anymore.

I had gone to his website before too after some "nice" lady in church mentioned it and I saw something about what to use to beat your kids with so they won't associate your "loving" hands with inflicting pain on them. Yeah, its the paddle's fault.

What a sick you know what.

[Brigianna]

Originally Posted by Wugmama

WARNING - don't read following if you don't like child abuse stories!!!






Not this particular book of his but a different one I thumbed through at the bookstore had a "success" story in it from a Dobson fan. It went something like this:

"My 3 yr old dropped his orange peeling on the floor - something he is not allowed to do. I said in a firm voice, 'pick that up'. He said, 'no'. So I calmly got the paddle..."

At that point I was feeling faint and couldn't read anymore.

I had gone to his website before too after some "nice" lady in church mentioned it and I saw something about what to use to beat your kids with so they won't associate your "loving" hands with inflicting pain on them. Yeah, its the paddle's fault.

What a sick you know what.

People don't beat people, paddles beat people. Yeah, right. Do they think the kids are stupid? They know who's holding the paddle!