This is the sort of thing that first made me think I wanted to parent that way. Its sold as the sure way that your kids will grow up to love Jesus.
My parents parented that way and with that fear, so did all of our best friends parents. They were all excessively strict and punitive and their belief was that we wouldn't stray from the faith.
Over the last several years though, I have had a chance to see what the kids who were raised that way grow up to believe and do. Keep in mind that these were all "quiverful" families so Im talking about a few dozen kids who were all raised this way and are all still close to me for the most part. Im' so heart broken to report that the majority of these kids now have either:
1.rejected Christ outright (became atheist or agnostic)
2.believe marginally in Christ but don't believe there's any way to please him so they don't bother and live in sin.
3.lead such a hugely rebellious and sinful young adulthood and adolescence that now that they are parenting children of their own they are being CRAZY with their kids in terms of strictness and punishments, thinking that if they are more strict with their kids then the kids wont fall away as they did.
So, once i started seeing that definite pattern....I got really scared. If I'd had a child a year and a half or two years ago, I would have fallen into category three (only minus the rebellious period) I would have redoubled or re tripled my parents efforts and been more devoted to STRICT adherence to rules and disciple. Because at times i really thought all my friends turned out as they did because their parents were not consistently strict and punitive enough (that my parents were not either.)
Im SO SO GLAD that God has done a work in my heart. I still have a HUGE fear that I wont raise my children right and that they will grow up to go to reject Christ and go to hell. Im really scared of "doing it wrong."
Its easy to see how they can sell books/movies/etc that play on a parents fear.