Ezzo v. Dobson. Who is scarier?

[Joannarachel]

I think we can all agree that Ezzo is more evil. His brand of 'baby discipline' crosses the abuse border and leaves it in the dust, while Dobson dances around it.

But all the same....I think Dobson frightens me more than Ezzo! I think there are a lot of loving "Christian" parents out there that would be horrified by Ezzo and put the book down without ever implementing its methods (my parents certainly never would have Ezzoed a baby), and at the same time been drawn to the pseudo-psychology/tough love that Dobson presents.

Dobson is more insidious, more deceiving, because his sadism is mixed in with a small dose of fairly healthy advice.

In short...Dobson scares me more. Any thoughts?

[paxye]

Both of them give me a high BP and send me running... IMO they are equally scary and also dangerous...

I would of course add the Pearls to the top of the list also...

[Joannarachel]

The Pearls...Pearls are just vile, vile vile.

[LianneM]

Pearls aside (they take the cake) I agree that Dobson is scarier. It's easy enough to dismiss Ezzo, especially with the FTT cases due to his feeding schedule. But Dobson, my gosh, he just seems to get to the well-meaning parents and really give them what they want to hear - ex. spanking is a quick solution, and he says there's no reason to think it will cause long-term harm in the child. Lovely. My church offered a parenting/discipline class using Dobson - I made sure people knew why we weren't attending. :

[Divaostrich]

Hands down Dobson for me! That man's spanking advice infuriates me to no end. He seems like the cuddly gradpa with his voice and in his books for adults, but really pulls one on the moms who trust his parenting advice. He praises moms who spank! Thanks to him the poison of violence to children is being passed to another generation of Christian children.

I'm usually pretty mild tempered, but he gets me going....so please excuse my rage

[nextcommercial]

I read some of James Dobson. I liked him fine, but used what I liked and tossed the rest.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Kevin Leman. Many of you may not like him, but I adore and worship him. I have a shrine of Kevin Leman books in my bookcase. He has made my marriage so much easier.

[Deir]

Who are the Pearls?

[Joannarachel]

Deir...there are many informative threads on the Pearls in this forum, but unfortunately the search function is down for the interim :

The Pearls have recently been in the news because a mother murdered her four year old last year using his discipline methods.

He advocates INCREDIBLY harsh physical violence towards babies and children for the slightest 'infraction' and recommends keeping a piece of piping (YES PIPING) in each room of the house in order to hit your children with should they step out of line, amongst other things.

[Deir]

OMG!!!!! Thanks for informing me! I just went and checked out some of their writings!! UGH! It is unbelievable. there is so much I don't even know where to begin!! My MIL just sent us a decorative clothes hook thing that has that bible quote on it! It made me a bit sick but now I really hate it. I have to hang that darn thing up because she's coming to visit next week! But then i will take it right down. i have no idea why she got it for us anyway other than it is a train and Myles loves trains of course. It doesn't even make sense because "train" vehicle and "train" verb are not the same anyway. LOL

[PaganScribe]

Dobson. Absolutely.

[rmzbm]

Dobson & the Pearls are worse that Ezzo, who is his own kind'a crazy for sure.

[georgia]

Pearl Link

[elmh23]

Scariest: Pearls
Second Scariest: Dobson
Third Scariest: Ezzo

[peacelovingmama]

Originally Posted by elmh23

Scariest: Pearls
Second Scariest: Dobson
Third Scariest: Ezzo

I think this would be my ranking too, although I am not as familiar with the Ezzos. The Pearls seem to advocate the most heinous violence against the smallest infants, but Dobson seems to have a much larger following. For that reason, his "scariness" factor goes up.

[akkimmie]

WOW how scary all 3 of them are I had never read about any of them until this thread- hope it's ok to say but how could a person do that to another person, let alone your OWN child. I am shocked.

THANK GOODNESS FOR GD MAMAS:

[thefragile7393]

Ehhh....they are all freaky. The Pearls and Ezzo are my big BP risers.

[EvansMomma]

OMG.
I had no knowledge of what the Pearls were all about til I went to the link Georgia provided.

I read through the first little bit but had to stop because I was actually getting physically ill. HOW COULD ANYONE JUSTIFY HURTING A BABY - or any other human being for that matter! I got as far as the part where they talk about how to 'train' your baby not to bite you while nursing - they say to PULL THEIR HAIR! OMG. I am just sick to my tummy now. I could never ever ever in a million years ever imagine doing anything to cause my sweet little baby pain.

I would say, having read that - the Pearls are by far more vile than Ezzo. I don't know much about Dobson either, but I am just not up to reading about any more baby torturing techniques so I'll leave Dobson for another day.

[mmfoote]

Originally Posted by LianneM

It's easy enough to dismiss Ezzo, especially with the FTT cases due to his feeding schedule.

What is FTT?

[DebraBaker]

Pearls are the worst thing out there (slightly worse than Fugate, Bradley, and Lessin.)

I believe Ezzo's teachings are more dangerous. They agree with what Dobson teaches, but include the feeding schedules and parent-centered selfishness.

Dobson reaches more people and (inexplicably,) gives off a more respectable aire, which makes him dangerous.

[paxye]

Originally Posted by mmfoote

What is FTT?

Failure to thrive...

due to the strict feeding schedules that the Ezzo's endorse many babies (especially breastfed babes) have been underfed and were not thriving...