The Strong-Willed Child

Ryan Dobson
Youth Minister

Dear Pastor Dobson,

I'm a big fan of your father's work. I think his book, The Strong-Willed Child, is second only to the Bible in terms of its importance to our culture. Whenever, I'm feeling frustrated, I need only to reread the story of how he beat the living hell out of your dachshund, Siggie, and I'm whistling Pat Boone's greatest hits for the rest of the day.

That's why I found this blog post so distressing. The writer says that he knew you as a child. He describes you as "the most spoiled, least self-disciplined kid I've ever encountered." How can that be? Certainly, the man who urges millions to beat their strong-willed children into submission would know how to handle his own.

That doesn't seem to be the case. The author suggests that your parents overindulged you and offers the following examples as proof:

The Dobsons made more or less endless excuses for his bad behavior. One camping trip was hours late departing because Ryan had broken his fishing rod - he'd been standing on it and pulling its ends up until it broke, and his parents wouldn't let the trip leave until they went out and bought him a replacement. Another was equally late because of a very long argument between the scoutmaster and his parents about the appropriateness of the junk food and comic books he wanted to carry along; his parents finally reluctantly agreed that there was such a thing as a sensible weight limit...and then tried pressuring other boys in the troop to carry the excess so that Ryan wouldn't have to do without any of what he wanted to bring.

He/she goes on to say that his/her mother eventually refused to have you in her car because of your bad behavior, and that your parents responded by accusing her of stifling your creativity.

That doesn't sound like the actions of a Christian disciplinarian to me. Is the author lying?

Of course, in the end, we see that your father raised you to be a good Christian. Your book, Be Intolerant, is evidence of that. I guess that's the important thing.

Heterosexually yours,

Gen. JC Christian, patriot

Thanks to reader Dan for the tip.