OK, this post may be controversial among some people, but it's my blog and it's what I believe, OK?
Now I believe in the 'Word made flesh' and 'the Way, the Truth and the Life', but many things that have the label 'Christian' attached to them put me right off, and that certainly goes for much parenting information. I was chatting with my pregnant friend who visited yesterday and, attempting to find out whether she was leaning towards a 'schedule' or an 'on demand' kind of approach, asked her which books she had read so far. Shock and horror when she said the only one she had read was "Babywise" .....!!! For those who don't know, this is originally a Christian-based parenting course/book which has been secularised, but is highly controversial as it is highly scheduled and has led to failure-to-thrive, dehydration and hungry babies, let alone simply the mental agony of those poor babies left to cry until the appropriate time period has elapsed till their next feeding. There is plenty of argument and evidence against it on this site. I had hoped this awful approach had stayed firmly in the USA, where it originated, but sadly it is creeping into the UK and I hate it. I may not have been able to give her a lot of useful advice or help in any other way, but I am just thankful that I have managed to warn her against this approach, and hopefully, if she reads the info I gave her, she will not go near it with the proverbial bargepole.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I'm glad she had you to point out a different way of parenting - I hope she will listen
I forget how or why I came across that site, but I have seen it before, and was utterly bewildered that anyone could take that approach to raising a baby. Glad that you were there to put another point of view.
Hum. Wanted to comment yesterday but blogger wouldn't let me. The friend I shared a house with swore by Babywise, and all I saw was it tying her up in knots because her poor baby hadn't read it. Steve and I had to bite our tongues a lot of times, and she did eventually calm down, stop listening to Ezzo and started listening to her baby!
I did err on the side of routine with my babies but a child-led one, rather than a parent-imposed one, iyswim.
Anyway, what *I* hate about Ezzo is the way it's labelled Christian because that immediately gets sales in the US. Gina Ford here says exactly the same thing yet doesn't have the Christian label - I can't stand the Christian=Regimented thing - it's the same when it comes to home education! therefore, Christians who don't necessarily know any different take it as read that *that* is the way they should do it, and it simply isn't. I'm not particularly tolerant of people who don't think for themselves, I have to say ... sorry Joanna, I don't have many soapboxes, but this whole christian labelling thing is one of them!
couldn't agree more, Sarah!
Post a Comment