Fans are criticizing the Duggar Family after they posted a link on their Facebook page that encourages people to join them at Fort Rock Family Camp alongside controversial pastor, Michael Pearl, and his wife, Debi.
The Pearls rose into fame after they published a book titled "To Train Up a Child — Child Training for the 21st Century." Their book is all about the use of corporal punishments to discipline children — it encourages the use of psychological abuse, spanking, food deprivation and whipping with hoses, tubes, paddles, switches and sticks.
In 2011, according to The New York Times, three children's deaths were linked to the book. The parents of these children were found to have been following the punishments laid down in the book. While the book had been popular among Christian homeschoolers, most conservative Christians reject and oppose Pearl's teachings, even starting petitions to stop sellers from selling the book. Those who oppose corporal punishment argued that the book is susceptible to misinterpretation, leading to actual abuse. Moreover, some find the book problematic because it may lead parents to punish their children harder if they failed to obey them the first time they punished them.
The Pearls found it preposterous to blame their book for the deaths of the children. They said that their methods if properly used, yield disciplined children. However, they also acknowledged that their teachings are not applicable to parents who have anger issues.
This was not the first time the Pearls' methods were linked to the Duggar family. According to In Touch Weekly, in Dec. 2015, Jill Duggar posted and deleted photos of her baby Izzy wrapped up tightly in a blanket, crying. Fans interpreted that Jill and her husband, Derick Dillard, were using a form of blanket training. Blanket training is a method of Pearls' wherein babies are placed on a blanket and hit by their parents with a flexible ruler if they try to crawl off the edge of the blanket.
