During the 70's when I was about 9 or 10 my parents took my brother and I to an Erhardt Seminar Training that was specifically for children. I have been trying to find information on this on the Internet and can't find anything related to the subject of a children's training. Is there anyone out there who has been through this same experience? As an adult looking back on this, it seems wrong to me, to put kids through this type of experience.

See [www.culteducation.com]

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realitychick
During the 70's when I was about 9 or 10 my parents took my brother and I to an Erhardt Seminar Training that was specifically for children. I have been trying to find information on this on the Internet and can't find anything related to the subject of a children's training. Is there anyone out there who has been through this same experience? As an adult looking back on this, it seems wrong to me, to put kids through this type of experience.

The official Landmark Education web site indicates 8 programs for young people (age 8-12) and teens (age 13-up) between now and april 2006 in the US. In canada, there is one program for young people and one program for teens scheduled for march 2006 in Toronto.

The description for the programs can be found here:

(Young people)
[www.landmarkeducation.com]

(Teens)
[www.landmarkeducation.com]

You can seach for any programs in any part of the world here:

[www.landmarkeducation.com]

I agree with you that such programs should not target kids. In my opinion, this should be considered criminal. But like any other cults, parents are free to enroll their own kids.

Please tell us about your own experience as a kid and the consequences to your adult life!

I remember feeling like I was pressured to share. I had a traumatic issues that I was dealing with when I was 9 but I didn't feel like it was a safe environment for me to share. I wasn't really prepared for all of the emotional issues that came up for some of the other kids. One kid had accidentally burned down the house of his parents and he was really upset. At one point my brother was crying about something and I was really upset by this. We were there all day and I was so happy to be out of there at the end of each day. When my parents came to pick us up the first thing they said to us is "did you get IT?" and all I could think was that I was so glad to be going home. I didn't really understand what I was supposed to be getting out of it. I remember having quite a pathetic looking lunch while I was there (a chicken drum stick, a piece of cheese and a carrot), not really enough food to keep a growing kid going all day. I don't think that this experience has done any lasting damage to me or my brother. My parents were very involved in EST for many years. I feel that it is a cult and my brother has a pretty neutral view of EST. My memory of the children's est training is pretty foggy, and I would be interested in hearing about other people's experiences. Thanks for the website links - I will definitely be checking those out to see what people have written. I agree with you that it should be considered criminal that programs like this are targeting kids. From my own experience, I don't think that children are emotionally ready to hear about other children's traumatic experiences. As a kid, you are left sitting there feeling sad for the pain that another child is feeling and you don't have your parents there to help you to deal with your emotions. It is wrong.

Hello Realitychick,

Thank you for sharing so clearly, about your experience in a youth forum and with LE parents.

Different cults have different methods for the youth. Some more outwardly abusive, some inwardly so.

The following thread discusses about being born or raised in a cult

[board.culteducation.com]

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I agree with you that it should be considered criminal that programs like this are targeting kids....It is wrong

As a law-abiding citizen and taxpayer I've often wondered why the government hasn't stepped in, shut down and prosecute those responsible for the type of abuse Landmark and other similar cults impose on innocent children. It seems to be a type of child abuse the government unfortunately doesn't recognize.

If adults want to subject themselves to this Landmark garbage that's their choice, but to subject innocent and helpless children to this warrants government intervention. It's truly tragic.

I have spoken to my parents about this at different times throughout my life. I am in my 30's now, and realize that my parents did the best that they could and really felt that the EST training for children would be a positive experience for me and my brother. I think that the parents who put their kids into these programs probably feel that they are doing what is in the best interest of their children. I think my parents probably weren't considering that my brother and I lacked the maturity to handle heavy emotional issues that we were faced with in EST. I also think that children are pretty impressionable and open to new information - like sponges absorbing everything that they are told. I came out of the children's EST training feeling that I had so much integrity and that I was so much more enlightened than other 10 year olds because of my experiences in EST. It wasn't until I was an adult when I started to consider whether I would choose to enroll my kids in a large group seminar such as EST. I began to question why my parents did this and started to consider whether this experience was damaging to me or to my brother. As I mentioned earlier my memories of this experience are pretty vague. My brother remembers a more negative experience. I am going to let him know about this forum and see if he will share his thoughts and experineces.