Does Candace Cameron Bure Practice Discipline that Borders on Child Abuse?

What a time to be a parent. So many new, trendy parenting styles to choose from. Are you a helicopter parent? Free-range parent? How about a permissive or authoritative parent? Dolphin parenting? Huh?

With all of these fancy “methods,” one struck me as particularly odd and I would even consider it child abuse. Candace Cameron Bure, of the hit television show Full House, has a new show, Fuller House, that’s a spin-off of the original show.

With all of the attention she’s receiving for her new gig, an old issue has been brought into the light. In 2004, Bure allegedly wrote a blog post that included some of the methods she considers for disciplining her children. It read, “The books that guideline raising our children are the Bible, Shepherding a Child’s Heart by Tedd Tripp and To Train Up a Child by Michael & Debi Pearl. My parenting tip of the day is consistency; it’s key.”

The infamous Duggar family (Michelle) practices Michael and Debi Pearl’s horrid excuse for “training a child” and the apple didn’t seem to fall far from the tree. Daughter Jill Dillard posted photos of her baby swaddled tightly in a blanket, crying his little heart out. When concerns for his safety swirled around the internet, Dillard removed the photos. Luckily you can still see them in all their sadness here.

Some of the other methods in the To Train Up a Child book include:

• “Blanket training” babies by hitting them with an instrument if they try to crawl off a blanket on the floor.
• Using plastic plumbing tubing to beat children (and then parents wearing plastic plumbing around their necks as a reminder to obey).
• Swatting babies as young as 6 months old with a “12 inch willowy branch.”
• Hosing off children who have potty training accidents.

For me as a parent, this is beyond the pale, considering these methods are being carried out on infants and toddlers. Several children have died when their parents used this “method.” To me, it’s more like a sick cult than child rearing, but that’s just one mom’s opinion.

What do you think about this parenting style? Leave a comment and let us know.