How to Begin | AdventAI

International Tract and Missionary Society · OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA · Feb 4, 1886

How to Begin.

At a lecture delivered recently in Philadelphia by school superintendent McAllister, on "When and How should a Child be Educated?" he said: "The child first comes in contact with the world through its senses. Education should, therefore, begin through and by the training of the senses, and lead upward to the education of the intellectual and moral faculties. Activity is the great law which regulates child life, and Froebel's principle was that all education should be based on the self-activity of the child."

Taking this, the only true principle of education, every mother can and should be the child's first teacher. She is the child's first teacher unconsciously; by thought and intention let her be its first instructor, directing its energies to definite ends; have a purpose when she sits down for the "children's hour;" invent amusements that will be instructive and will develop the child's faculties. In these days of encyclopædias and science primers there is no reason why a mother who has not had the benefit of a thorough training should not be able to at least give a satisfactory and truthful answer to any question propounded in her family. Of one thing she must be certain,—that her answer is correct so far as it goes. If the mother cannot answer the question at once, let the child know that she will find out and give it an answer as soon as possible, and then make it possible to be soon.

There are hundreds of mothers who will say that it is impossible for a woman who has a family of children and a house to care for, with the aid of one or no servant, to give the time necessary to study to make up for early deficiency of education, and attend to the necessary duties about her. The most necessary duty you have is attending to the harmonious development of your child; every other duty is secondary to that; and no time is so well spent or so profitably spent as that devoted to its education. Teaching it to use its eyes so that it will be alive to the beauties of nature will open to a child a resource in times of temptation and sorrow; and by teaching it to discover and enjoy nature, lead its thought up to the Giver of all good.

Teach it by contrast; point out to a child the visible effects of neglect and evil. A child will readily understand the difference between a well-cared-for field and one that is neglected; a well-developed tree, symmetrical and thrifty, and one crooked and barren. So, too, can the effects of neglect and evil in man be pointed out, and pity for the sufferer, and thankfulness for its own privileges, be taught. In the training of children, parents do not give them credit for the amount of intellectual activity that they possess, and think that children do not observe, when their minds are just as busy drawing conclusions as are the minds of those about them.

Establish the closest confidence with your children, and let them always have the interest and sympathy shown in their affairs that they deserve, looking at them from the child's standpoint. The affair that is of trivial importance in your estimation is of vital importance in the child's estimation. There is no surer way to shut out a child's confidence than by treating the affairs with indifference or ridicule. Surely you have as much time to give in listening to your child's projects and disturbances, ambitions and doubts, as you have to the business affairs of John Smith, or the household annoyances of John Smith's wife. Let the children, that are the light of your life, receive the courtesy and attention that you accord to the man or woman in whom you have no special interest. No person's happiness is so dear to you, no person's interest is so dear to you, as that of your child. Recognizing this, so arrange your household, social, and business affairs that you, your children, and your friends will adapt themselves to the fact.—Christian Union.