Ivan,

I post the quote by Astrid Lindgren on the websites for all classes I teach!

I wanted to comment more on the following statement "The danger to the
life and well-being of children increases in direct proportion to their
proximity to religion and its practitioners."

Horrible atrocities to children have been committed and continue to be
committed in the name of religion. However, there are individuals who
consider themselves Christians and who are fighting to change the
cruelty heaped on children in the name of religion. Check out
parentinginjesusfootsteps.org. This website is dedicated to gentle and
loving parenting and the individuals who started and maintain the
website are extremely proactive in combating the old familiar myth of
Biblical hitting!

Good to see you on the ng.

LaVonne

Ivan Gowch wrote:
Here is a story by Astrid Lindgren she told at a convention in
Frankfurt when she won a Peace prize. (Astrid Lindgren is the author
of Pipi Longstocking stories.)

"For all those who now talk of harsher methods and more control, I'd
like to tell a story an old woman once told me. She was a young mother
in the days when people still believed 'spare the rod and spoil the
child.' That is, she didn't really believe it, but one day when her
son had done something, she thought she should spank him with a
switch, for the first time in his life.

"She told him to go out and cut a branch for her. The little boy left
and was gone a long time. Finally he returned, crying and said 'I
couldn't find a switch, but here is a rock you can throw at me.'

"Then the mother started crying too, because all of a sudden she could
see it from the child's point of view. The child must have thought 'my
mother wants to hurt me and then a rock will do just as well.'

"She hugged him and they both cried awhile together. Then she put the
rock on the mantelpiece as a reminder and swore to herself that she'd
never use violence!"



--
The danger to the life and well-being of children
increases in direct proportion to their proximity
to religion and its practitioners.
-Ivan Gowch