Get links to my best stuff in your inbox
 

The Teaching Of Our Children

By
Categories: Church of Christ Bulletin Articles

Regarding the teaching of our children, this writer would like to emphasize something that is sometimes lost in the shuffle, and that is to teach our kids to teach themselves. As we all know, learning is a life-long process. We won’t grow old mentally, if we’re willing to learn something new. My grandmother believed that, and she was right (she lived 93 years on this earth, and still retained her mental faculties).

1) Teach our kids to teach themselves by teaching them the power of observation (Romans 1:19-20-NKJV) — My father taught me to observe the things around me such as nature, animals, and yes, even people. In fact, I’ve personally learned a great deal on the Preacher’s Files Bible Study Forum through simple observation. Will Rogers understood people because he had observed their characteristics and mannerisms, and by so doing, better understood himself.

2) Teach our kids to teach themselves by instilling in them a love for books and a love for reading, knowing how to use a library, etc. — Abraham Lincoln was self-taught — very little formal education, but he had a love for books through which he educated himself. The best teacher I ever had was a lady who instilled in me a love for reading and the ability to “bring alive” the books that I read. Books that will educate are not boring if we have an active imagination.

3) Teach our kids to teach themselves by teaching them the necessity of having a simple dictionary and thesaurus with them at all times and how to use them — My grandmother taught me the value of looking up words that I didn’t understand. In fact, every time I visited her, she would have a new word for me and she would know the definition of that word. Then she would tell me to look up any new word that I ran across in the newspaper, magazine, etc. By doing that, I would increase my vocabulary. She was right!

As a substitute librarian in our local school district libraries, I encourage students to ask their parents to buy them a dollar dictionary at the dollar store, put it in their backpack, and then when they run across a word they don’t understand — look it up!

4) Teach our kids to teach themselves by personally assisting them in the study of God’s word, thus motivating them to self-study the Book — The Importance Of Biblical Education cannot be over emphasized. Again, my grandmother taught me the value of studying God’s word through self-study and providing the example of that. Time and time again, I can remember her reading and studying her Bible, and her telling me the value of that reading and study.

A child is not truly educated until he or she comes to a knowledge of the Bible. There is nothing worse than being ignorant of God’s word. In fact, God does not and will not tolerate ignorance of His word because He will judge us by that word (Acts 17:29-31-NKJV; John 12:48-NKJV).

All four of the above ideas of teaching our kids to teach themselves (and there are other ideas) hinge on one word — work! My grandmother taught me the value of work, the blessing of work, and the fact that God promoted work from the beginning of man for his benefit (Genesis 2:15-NKJV). The word work is a four letter word not to be avoided, but to promote (contrary to our government’s promotion of welfare instead of work).

As parents and grandparents, let us resolve this New Year – 2010, to incorporate the above ideas into the minds of our children and grandchildren. If we will, we will begin to see a different world — one that is truly educated.

Related Articles:

Related posts: