How to Teach Children by Jos. Clarke

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 11, 1871

How to Teach Children.

By Jos. Clarke

“And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children; and shalt talk of them, when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.” Deut. 6:7.

Here we have the true method of education; children can receive but very little instruction at a time. Little by little, the parent sows the seed; little by little, the child comprehends the wondrous plan of salvation. Many are the lights in which it may be seen; many the side views; many the illustrations which the anxious, fond parent finds to attract the attention and instruct the mind of the little ones. Around his family circle, at the family table, and the altar of prayer, he is on the watchtower of observation, ever wakeful to improve the favorable moment.

Thus without a seeming effort, he enlists the hearts of his children before they are aware, and unites them to the throne of God. Such a house is a school, a place of true learning, where knowledge descends like the dew.

Instruction should fall upon the young mind like the dew or the gentle rain, not like the whirlwind or the tornado. Children need to be drawn, led (not pushed), to God; and home is the place to do this. The parent is the one to work here; as he walks or rides by the way, as he labors or rests, as he stands or sits, at every turn he will find a pleasant illustration of an important principle, a terse remark here, or a text in another place, ever noticing the effect upon his child, ever studying both to profit and to please, each day of the three hundred and sixty-five year after year. Thus he grows in grace himself and witnesses the effect upon his children. Jos. Clarke.