The following article is taken from a post on my friend Cindy’s blog: Under Much Grace. Cindy has devoted her blog to recovering from spiritual abuse. I recommend visiting her site and taking a look at all of her resources!
How Do We Track Kidney Failure and Kidney Damage in Children Who Are Trained Using the Pearl Method?
I corresponded with someone earlier this week who was completely unaware of the death of Lydia Schatz. I also spoke with a friend of mine who followed the Pearl Method of “child training” with her children, and when I told her of the tragedy, it became so stressful and threatening, we declared a moratorium on the topic so that we could remain friends. This is a difficult matter that I believe needs to be revisited.
I would like to state from the outset that I think that there are some limited, reasonable applications for spanking of toddlers under certain circumstances, and I am not decrying the practice, nor am I to be confused with a zealous advocate. I wish to point out the potential for harm that the Pearl Method poses, something different than spanking to keep a child from running into the street or putting their hand on a hot burner, preventing greater pain and potential injury.
For those who are unaware, Michael Pearl is an Evangelical minister of No Greater Joy Ministries who for about the past 25 years or so has advocated spanking of infants and children. He boasts teaching approximately 1 million couples his particular view of “child training.” His developed his model based upon way the Amish train horses by “breaking their spirits.” He teaches that from infancy, a “liberal totalitarian” child struggles to dominate the parent in a war that continues and resurfaces throughout their childhood, and they must be “chastized” until their will “breaks.” Sparing the rod is spoiling the child, and Pearl’s first choice for a “rod” is ¼ inch Teflon reinforced plumbing supply line which should be kept in every room in the house, something that can be worn around the parent’s neck for easy access. More can be read about the practice on other critical websites (critical of Pearl’s methods) such as Why Not Train a Child? And Tulip Girl.
On February 6, 2010, an eight year old child who was adopted from Liberia collapsed in her Paradise, California home after a spanking with plumbing line, reportedly for mispronouncing a spelling word. She died from the complications of acute kidney failure due to rhabdomyolosis (which I intend to explain in this post). Her eleven year old sibling Zariah (also adopted from Liberia) was hospitalized for renal failure but survived. The other children in the family were removed from the home and placed in the foster system. Their parents, Kevin and Elizabeth Schatz, face charges of torture, cruelty to a child resulting in harm, and murder in Butte County Superior Court on April 11.
My concern: If the Pearl Method of child discipline is followed in approximately 1 million homes, and we have seen cases of muscle cell destruction from parents that were described as mild, kind and gentle who have followed the method, I am concerned that other children have suffered some degree of significant kidney damage that will remain undiagnosed until later in life. Other cases of kidney failure may have not been reported within the Church. With the rising incidence of diabetes which is very damaging to the kidney, I believe that this population of children will be at even greater risk for kidney disease in their later years. A dose of the wrong antibiotic or too many NSAIDS could pose a clinical problem for these children. Are some parents causing kidney damage, not severe enough to produce in their children at the time of “child training,” a level of compromise that could only be detected by a physician who notes these changes in the blood work of these children? How will these people know until it is too late?
For more on this story go to: Under Much Grace
I remember a time in 1984 when my 4 year old daughter had disobeyed her daddy and had even stuck her tongue out at him behind his back as he was exiting her room. He turned around just as she was accomplishing that task…
Furious, he got a wooden spoon and turned her over his knee. I knew she deserved a spanking so I started down the hall at our home. After about a full minute (and plenty of crying) I turned and headed back down the hall only to see him STILL spanking her and her entire bottom was now black and blue. I was livid. I kept it to myself until I got him alone, away from the kids and then I voiced my thoughts..
I said, 1. She didn’t do anything bad enough to receive bruises, and definitely nothing bad enough to have them cover her entire bottom and 2. He better hope and pray that she doesn’t have anything happen to her that would cause her to have to go to the doctor – because IF anyone besides us saw her bruised bottom, both he and I would more than likely be spending the night in jail for child abuse. Then CPS would probably be taking us to court to keep us from getting her back.
I AM an advocate for discipline, spare the rod spoil the child. However, it takes VERY little to break a child’s will/spirit. I’m not talking about the southern method of using a “switch”, but a wooden spoon will do. And it doesn’t take a beating either. That’s child abuse and shouldn’t be tolerated anywhere. One good rule to always remember in spanking a child is to never use your hand. “The wooden spoon, yardstick, ruler is for correction – but the hands are for loving.”
RE: undiagnosed kidney failure: Generally speaking, this is more times than not, detected in traditional MD visits. If the child becomes acutely symptomatic, the parents will 99% of the time take the child to the MD thinking it’s something worth looking into. That’s a fairly easy diagnosis for physicians. The child may be jaundice, blood in urine, debilitating lower back pain. Testing is fairly easy for that.
RE: kidney problems later in life?: Kidneys don’t like to “wait” for treatment. If the child’s kidney was injured, it will require medical intervention long before any time has passed by..
The Pearl method is downright dangerous in my opinion. I did a review on their book “To Train Up A Child”, demonstrating the abusive nature of his ideology.
http://watchmansbagpipes.blogspot.com/2010/01/to-train-up-child.html
Aside from the horror of the actual beatings, I would differ with the perceived need to “break a child’s spirit.” I train bird dogs for competition. I wouldn’t do that to a dog. Much less a child.
And I’m not against spanking.
Absolutely Bill! This is a very dangerous teaching by the Pearls!
Can someone please explain why childrens’ kidneys are being damaged? I do not agree with the Pearls’ views on child discipline and I know that those children from Libera had kidney damage, are these people actually telling parents to hit children in the kidneys. The best thing to do for anyone tempted to embrace the Pearl’s child training abuse is to visit a childrens’ hospital and see the kids with kidney failure, blood diseases, tumours and other conditions. See the pain in their parent’s eyes and then ask youself why you would want to damage your own healthy child