Amy King Explains Duggar Blanket Training ‘Fear’ Tactic: ‘I Would Never Effing Do This’

Amy King (née Duggar) is slamming the Duggar’s controversial parenting tactic of blanket training, telling her followers she would “never effing do it.”

“This is what it is though, they move the toy off the blanket [and] obviously the baby goes after the toy,” Amy, 37, explained in a TikTok live as she got visibly emotional. The video was later shared by a fan account via Instagram on Tuesday, March 12. “They get spanked and get hurt for moving off the blanket and they get punished for getting off the blanket.”

The mom of one explained that the baby eventually learns they can’t get off the blanket or they’ll “get hurt” in the form of a slap on the leg or spanking.

“It’s terrible. So the baby at a very young age learns how to obey his mom or dad or older siblings, in fear,” she continued. “The sweet baby grows up in fear.”

This isn’t the first time Amy has spoken out against the fear tactic, famously used by the Duggars. During an appearance on Amazon Prime’s documentary, Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets, which was released in June 2023, Amy told cameras that her aunt and Duggar matriarch, Michelle Duggar, “called it encouragement.”

“They literally said, ‘You need to come into the room, and we need to give you some encouragement,’” Amy told cameras, referring to blanket training. “But it was in the sweetest tone ever, like, ‘Do you need encouragement? I think you need encouragement.’”

Michelle, 57, touched on the topic in her 2008 book, admitting she would “practice” with her 19 kids.

“I would focus on blanket training, calling out ‘Okay, boys! It’s blanket time! Oh, isn’t this fun? Come pick a toy so we can have blanket time,’” the 19 Kids and Counting alum wrote. “Some days we might practice blanket time three or four times; Other days we only got it in once. But gradually, it became a common practice. The boys learned to spread out their own blankets, then they eagerly chose a special toy to play with.”

The method of parenting comes from a guide titled To Train Up a Child — Child Training for the 21st Century, written by Michael and Debi Pearl. The book was often referenced by evangelical Christians to teach obedience and also suggested that parents use corporal punishment to “train” children to obey them.

“The rules [and] techniques for training an animal and a human are the same,” Michael said during an appearance on Anderson Cooper’s former talk show, Anderson, in December 2011.