Editing Twelve Tribes communities (section)

=== Children ===
Children, especially the sons, have been noted to play a central role in the group's [[Eschatology|eschatological]] beliefs. The Twelve Tribes believe that it is the parents' responsibility to properly enforce a consequence for sin (wrongful action, words, behavior) so as to allow the child to maintain the state of a clean conscience. Over time, the children's children will be better equipped to deal with or "overcome" the faults of their predecessors. This will enable future generations of the group to hopefully be the "144,000" of [[Revelation 7]].<ref name=childNR/><ref name="WomeninNR"/> Children are [[homeschooled]].<ref name=childNR/><ref name="WomeninNR"/> Within the group, children are apprenticed to elders by the age of 13 to be trained in "crafts and specialized labor".<ref name=childNR/>{{rp|158}}<ref name="noapology">{{cite news |last=Staff Writer |date=April 13, 2001 |title=Tribes speak, but don't apologize |work=[[Bennington Banner]] |publisher=[[MediaNews Group]]}}</ref><ref name="fifteen">{{cite news | title=Healing Buildings and Healing Souls in the Catskills | url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9503E5DA173FF937A15754C0A9639C8B63 |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150529192430/https://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/24/realestate/healing-buildings-and-healing-souls-in-the-catskills.html |archive-date=May 29, 2015 | access-date=October 28, 2009 | work=The New York Times | first=Fred A. | last=Bernstein | date=July 24, 2005}}</ref> 

The group practices [[corporal punishment]] of children<ref name=childNR/><ref name="fifteen"/> with a "reed-like rod",<ref name="a church of their own"/> like a balloon stick (a minimum),<ref name='Balloon'>{{cite news | first=Brad | last=Pokorny | title=Island Pond has message for Media: Paint Brighter Picture or Get Lost | date=February 24, 1985 | publisher=[[New York Times Company]] | work =The Boston Globe |page=32 }}</ref> across the child's bottom,<ref name=childNR/>  though many former members, including children raised in the group, say punishments can include severe beatings to the point of bleeding or collapse, and are often repeated daily.<ref>{{cite news |title=In Germany's Twelve Tribes sect, cameras catch 'cold and systematic' child-beating |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/in-germany-s-twelve-tribes-sect-cameras-catch-cold-and-systematic-childbeating-8807438.html |first=Tony |last=Paterson |date=September 11, 2013 |newspaper=[[The Independent]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Yellow Deli restaurant linked to organization accused of child abuse, CUI investigation finds |url=https://www.cuindependent.com/2019/12/11/cult-twelve-tribes-child-abuse-boulder/ |first=Colie |last=Dorfman |date=December 11, 2019 |newspaper=[[CU Independent]]}}</ref> Corporal punishment could be theoretically meted out by any adult member of the group, even those not related to the family, but more recently the parents have been made primarily responsible for disciplining their own children.<ref name="They are evil">{{cite news |last1=Bradbury |first1=Shelly |title="They are evil": Ex-Twelve Tribes members describe child abuse, control inside religious cult |url=https://www.denverpost.com/2022/03/03/twelve-tribes-cult-child-abuse/ |access-date=September 25, 2025 |work=The Denver Post |date=March 3, 2022}}</ref>