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I recently e-mailed Focus on the Family and asked them for their statement on the Ezzos so that I could put it on my website. Here is their reply...
Thanks for your e-mail to Focus on the Family. We regard your request for our input as a genuine compliment. In response to your inquiry and others like it our staff has conducted an extensive evaluation of Gary and Anne Marie Ezzo's materials on parenting, including the books _Preparation for Parenting_ and _Growing Kids God's Way_. Allow me to summarize their findings and recommendations as succinctly as possible.
We do have concerns and reservations about the Ezzos' work, including the updated edition of _Preparation for Parenting_. In the first place, it seems to us that their philosophy of childrearing is far too rigid. The very title of their program, _Growing Kids God's Way_, has an unnecessarily exclusivistic sound about it, as if there were only one "correct" and godly way to raise children and all other methods were "unbiblical." In contrast to this, Dr. Dobson believes that there are many different approaches to raising children which are both healthy and consistent with the teaching of Scripture.
Speaking of Scripture, the Ezzos' misuse of biblical texts is, in our view, a second cause for serious concern. They have, for example, repeatedly cited Matthew 27:46 -- "... My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" -- in support of their teaching that mothers should refuse to attend crying infants who have already been fed, changed, and had their basic needs met. "Praise God," writes Gary Ezzo on page 122 of _Preparation for Parenting_, "that the Father did not intervene when His son cried out on the cross." We see no way to make such an application of this verse without completely disregarding its original context and purpose.
Third, we are aware that the authors' proposals regarding controlled feeding schedules for infants are highly controversial. Some critics have suggested that they might possibly result in child abuse if applied legalistically, inflexibly, and without regard for circumstance and the special needs of individual children; and, in fact, our ministry has received numerous letters from parents, pastors, midwives, physicians, and lactation professionals regarding cases of failure-to-thrive in infants subjected to the Ezzos' program. We don't believe this information should be ignored.
Finally, it needs to be said that the leadership of the Ezzos' own church -- the place where they initially developed and promoted their curriculum -- has now issued a public statement disavowing any affiliation with the ministry of Growing Families International. The issues pinpointed in that statement parallel Focus on the Family's concerns as outlined above. For further information, we suggest you contact Grace Community Church in Panorama City, California either via e-mail (letters@gty.org) or by telephone (818/782-5920).
For these reasons we do not recommend the Ezzos' material to Focus on the Family's constituents. Further, we would suggest that, if and when it is used, its principles be implemented only in conjunction with generous measures of common sense, intuition, and natural parental affection.
We hope these thoughts prove helpful. Thanks again for taking a moment to write. May God's grace, peace, wisdom, and blessing be yours in the days ahead.
Sarah Pike
Focus on the Family
Used by permission of Focus on the Family
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