Surviving Childhood: A Child Called "It"

"Forgiveness does not mean you have to forget, but forgiveness will cleanse you. It's the weight off your shoulder." —Dave

Dave Pelzer, the award winning author of A Child Named "It", grew up in a home where he was referred to as "it." Dave suffered an unimaginable upbringing. The product of constant abuse, it's a wonder how a little boy could survive this tortured childhood.

Dave's mother forbade his two brothers from acknowledging his presence. He ate the leftovers from the dog's dish, and often went weeks without food. In one of his mother's alcoholic rages, she pulled his arm out of it's socket and did not take him to the hospital for 18 hours. On another occasion, she stabbed him and was too afraid to take him to the hospital for fear of exposing her secret.

At 8 years -old, Dave was again at the hands of his mother's abuse this time his arm was burned on a gas stove. As he sat alone after the torture he could feel the pain in his arm, but he decided from that moment on he would never quit on himself. "If my mom didn't feed me, that I'll feed myself. If she beats me, I will tighten up parts of my body. I knew I had to take a stand."

Finally, Dave found salvation when his teachers called the authorities. He thanks the people with social service, foster care, and his teachers for giving him the sense of value he knew he had within his tortured body.

Dave has accomplished a tremendous amount since his childhood days. He's served nine years in the Armed Forces, got married, and now has a son. Both of Dave's parents have passed away. He look's at his mother's life as a tragedy, and finds that he learned the absolute power of forgiveness from all he endured as a young boy.

Dave believes, "it's always the smallest thing that makes a world of difference, the things that unfortunately we take for granted. When you almost die, you take nothing for granted...and that's the glory of life. Dave's latest book A Man named Dave completes the trilogy of his life story.


From the show Tortured Children Follow-Up