Okay, I thought I had posted up this reading last week when I was supposed to, but apparently I didn't. Whoops. At least it is short. Unless you want to hear about how every child needs a good portion of bacon fat every day to be healthy, I think it is fairly safe to skip - or at least just skim - pages 20-37. Basically she is saying that children need to be in a good healthy environment with good food and fresh air in order to have the optimum education. I think everyone would agree with this. I've noticed that with Jonah, of course. . . if he's thirsty or hungry or something obviously he's not going to be very happy or listen or concentrate well at all. Their physical needs must be met in order for their brains to be in their best working order.
Allright, I think there is plenty to discuss in pages 38-41!
1. At the top of p. 38, CM talks about parents leaving too much up to common sense and not paying enough attention to the laws of God. Where do you see that happening in parenting circles today? The first that comes to my mind is when people say "If I spank, they will learn to hit", thinking that that is great common sense. . . where else can you see common sense outranking God's laws in people's minds?
2. CM talks on page 38-39 about God's blessings being on those who are obedient to His laws, regardless of the level of their relationship to Him and the danger that comes from your children meeting those who are more moral than they even are, yet don't acknowledge God. What can we do to teach not only good doctrine to our children, but the obedience to God's laws that will bring the blessing of "morality"?
3. She then goes on to speak about those who think only the "spiritual" laws must be obeyed - she says yes, they receive the ultimate gift of eternal life, but they miss out on the gifts of science and the laws God has placed in the world in the way He ordered it. Does this have a bearing on the way we want our children to be educated? I think she is saying that we have to not only pray that our children will walk rightly, but teach them how to as well.
I admit that I find this last part a little hard to follow. Maybe someone else can help interpret what CM is saying and how it relates to our educational decisions?
Monday, February 15, 2010
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2 comments:
I guess everyone has been busy this week!
#3 - I think that last section is an argument against the secular-sacred dichotomy. All of life belongs to God; all of life is holy. We don't only teach our children of God when we read the Bible to them, but when we study the world he made.
#2 - I would venture a guess that if obedience to God's laws is not evident, we haven't successfully taught good doctrine either. The two should go hand in hand. If the child can pass a doctrinal test without the accompanying actions, then he has only been taught to regurgitate answers, not to internalize the truths. As Doug Wilson says, the goal is to love the standards, not follow them.
Practically speaking (since your question was more about "how"), I think one thing is to constantly connect practice to doctrine. Disobedience should be identified as disobedience to God's standard (and which one, specifically). On the other hand, positive reinforcement for something done will should compliment adherence to the standard (eg: kindness, patience, love, etc.).
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