EDUCATING OUR CHILDREN
A child sits all day in the classroom where the teachers have fulfilled
their obligations. They have made sure that he prayed, that he learned,
ate, made blessings over the food, conducted himself properly, behaved
with his friends, wrote.... Then the child returns home loaded with all
this.
Now comes the turn of the parents to fulfill their duty as parents and
educators. However, let us not hide the truth.
Mother, whom the child meets first upon returning home, has been busy
all day taking care of the house and the small children. By the time
the evening comes, she wants to give them supper, wash them and put
them to bed in order that she can also rest a little from her daily
chores and restore her own strength.
When Father comes home he has already completed a whole day of working
to bring home a livelihood. In the evening he will run to prayers and
to learn a little. When he finally arrives home he is tired and
drained. He also wants to rest a little.
Thus, it happens that both of them forget the child who has come home
loaded with the experiences of the last eight or ten hours that he has
spent outside of the house. He wants to tell them. Indeed, he is not
only interested in telling them, but he has to tell them, at least to
his mother, if not also to his father who will come home afterwards.
If the child comes home and his mother asks him what happened today in
school, even if she gives him only ten minutes of attention, then this
child will be mentally healthy and he will progress intellectually; he
will behave properly and he will mature to be a respectable person.
Any person, especially a child, is likely to forget what he has seen or
heard if he does not have a chance to speak about it with anyone else.
On the other hand, if the child knows that when he arrives home there
will be someone who takes an interest in what he saw and heard that
day, then he will review in his mind his experiences before he even
arrives. When he enters the house, he will immediately say "shalom,"
and his eyes will be sparkling with joy and emotion because he has
something to say.
The child's mother should make sure that he tells what he has to say
slowly and distinctly. She is improving his mental health just by
helping him to speak clearly. By remembering what he saw and heard, he
is improving his mind, and if he heard some things about proper,
ethical conduct, and if Mother adds to them somewhat, then he will
certainly learn to behave properly and advance splendidly into
adulthood.
In this important matter there is really no difference in the age of
the child, whether he is in kindergarten or first grade or eigth grade.
The younger and the older children both want attention. The only
difference is in the content.
The older a child is, then the content of his studies is increased. He
must do homework, but if the mother or father give him a little time to
help him review his studies or do his homework, then it makes a big
difference to him. As for the parents, they are first of all fulfilling
the mitzvah of "teach them to your children." Secondly, they will be
causing themselves joy and "nachat" because they will see their child
progressing in his studies and they will be proud about it.
