These last weeks have been taxing. Routines have been radically altered. Freedoms have been constrained. Normal pleasures have been curtailed. For many, income has been disrupted. And perhaps most trying of all, the future is uncertain. The illusion that we are in control is being challenged. Such testing times can be stressful for parent and child alike. read more
That children should be trained to endure hardness, was a principle of the old regime. "I shall never make a sailor if I can't face the wind and rain," said a little fellow of five who was taken out on a bitter night to see a torchlight procession; and, though, shaking with cold, he declined the shelter of a shed. Nowadays, the shed is everything; the children must not be permitted to suffer from fatigue or exposure.
That children should do as they are bid, mind their books, and take pleasure as it offers when nothing stands in the way, sums up the old theory; now, the pleasures of children are apt to be made more account than their duties. Formerly, they were brought up in subjection; now, the elders give place, and the world is made for the children.[1]
[1] Mason, Charlotte. Home Education. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1989. 7.
Last time, we heard from Essex Cholmondeley about opportunities, the opportunities parents have at home “to bring children up to be or to do” to be the kind of persons who have the power to live the life God has given them in exactly the way God intends, complete in mind, heart and soul with “the needs of something to love, something to do and something to think about.” It’s a lofty work indeed, to bring children up in these varied relationships. In truth, each parent and each teacher are a part of this work already, consciously or unconsciously. more
Modern technologies propagate a value system. Winners win and losers lose but is that a true statement?
Is the purpose of life. To make it to the one percent? Or would I or which would I rather have my child be? A neurotic performance-oriented performance driven member of the one percent. Or totally average in lifestyle but knows how to love his spouse and care for his children enjoys that which is good true and beautiful has a rich relationship with ideas and books as many friends and is a blessing to everyone in the neighborhood a quote winner one rich in the relation of life to set different value systems. Which do you want for your child?
What's the most formative influence in that child's life. Is it parents? Is it teachers? I promise you it's the screens that's what's shaping the child's character. Every child is born knowing there are things worth having and things worth avoiding but they're absolutely clueless what those are. Their affections are set first by the parents, then by the tribe. What do you desire? Child What do you want? Those desire we're not random events. They were cultivated. And they were cultivated by somebody or some thing.And. It's a function of quality time. Whoever has the most quality time with the child gets to do the most shaping of the affections.
Silicon Valley tech executives and engineers enroll their kids in no tech Waldorf schools. Google founders Sergei Brin and Larry Page went to no tech Montessori schools as did Amazon creator Jeff Bezos and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales many parents intuitively understand that the ubiquitous glowing screens are having a negative effect on kids.
Cholmondeley, Essex, What is Education? An address given to a meeting of the Women’s Institute. 1925.
"The mystery of a person, indeed, is ever divine, to him that has a sense for the godlike.
Join Dr. Bill St. Cyr for the multi-part series on The Pursuit of Maturity.
Join Dr. Bill St. Cyr for the multi-part series on The Pursuit of Maturity.
Join Dr. Bill St. Cyr for the multi-part series on The Pursuit of Maturity.
Join Dr. Bill St. Cyr for the multi-part series on The Pursuit of Maturity.
Join Dr. Bill St. Cyr for the multi-part series on The Pursuit of Maturity.
Join Dr. Bill St. Cyr for the multi-part series on The Pursuit of Maturity.
Join Dr. Bill St. Cyr for the multi-part series on The Pursuit of Maturity.
