It would be interesting to see the children/teenagers whose parents used this method in the first few years, even if it's just to see how their parents responded to "misbehaviour" once they were off-book. And, more interestingly, would they be "normal"? Confident? Clingy? Rebellious? Likely to use the same techniques for their own kids?

Astrid's right, the scariest part for me was the cult-like status of these books and their followers. Thinking of my friends who are mums, I can think of at least two who are possibly following these methods... It really scares me that there are people like this out there. Babies should be free to be babies.