Mental Food for the Young Child
By Vina Sherwood-Adams
WHY is it, when a little child comes bounding to us, his face all abeam with dawning intelligence, that we seem duty bound to meet these indications of his intellectual growth with dead forms, such as the letters of the alphabet, the meaningless numerical symbols, the written form of letters, etc.? We think that if he can spell a few words, count to ten, or write a little, we have given him a long push toward knowledge. Have we? Sometimes we parade this mechanical knowledge before others until the child gains the impression that he is a very learned little man. From our own childhood we have received a wrong impression of what constitutes true knowledge, which is to know God and the things that he has created. Many volumes have been written about God, and still more on his created works; but there are only two books in which we may obtain this true knowledge firsthand, the Word and nature. The little child cannot read and comprehend the first, the Word; so he must make free use of the second, nature. That is why we observe in all normal children this early interest in things alive. They will chatter like little magpies over even a few ants crawling on the ground. As parents and teachers we are responsible for encouraging and assisting them in the study of their book. I am becoming convinced that the hereditary traits given children by their parents are the smaller factors in forming the general character we find in the adult. Of course there are certain strong traits running through a family that predominate through life; but it is what a child learns from his parents, his brothers, his sisters, his neighbors, the things he studies, his surroundings in general, that make or mar his character. I believe every little one has a pretty clean slate when he comes into this world, and that we are more responsible than we realize as to what is written on that slate. We can wash a child’s school slate clean again, but how difficult it is to remove even the earliest impressions made on a baby’s mind! What a high privilege we have of molding our children’s minds while the heart, “not yet hardened by contact with evil, is quick to recognize the presence that pervades all created things. The ear as yet undulled by the world’s clamor is attentive to the voice that speaks through nature’s utterances,” Shall we excuse ourselves, and give this privilege to others?—No. “Do not send your little ones away to school too early. The mother should be careful how she trusts the molding of the infant mind to other hands. Parents ought to be the best teachers of their children until they have reached eight or ten years of age. Their schoolroom should be the open air, amid the flowers and birds, and their textbook the treasure of nature. As fast as their minds can comprehend it, the parents should open before them God’s great book of nature. These lessons, given amid such surroundings, will not soon be forgotten.” “The mother should have less love for the artificial in her house, and in the preparation of her dress for display, and should find time to cultivate in herself and her children a love for the beautiful buds and opening flowers. By calling the attention of her children to their different colors and variety of forms, she can make them acquainted with God, who made all the beautiful things which attract and delight them. She can lead their minds up to their Creator, and awaken in their young hearts a love for their Heavenly Father, who has manifested so great love for them.”—“Christian Education.”