Teach Your Children Well

“Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.”

Colossians 3:20-21 NIV

“In every young person, a point of goodness is accessible, and it is the primary duty of the educator to discover that sensitive cord of the heart so as to draw out the best in the young person.” -St. John Bosco Saint John Bosco (1815-1888), was an Italian Roman Catholic priest who dedicated his life to educating the street children of Turin. When he was nine years old, he had a life-changing dream wherein he was struggling with a group of boys who were playing roughly and blaspheming while a tall noble-looking man said to him “You will have to win these friends of yours not with blows, but with gentleness and kindness. So begin right now to show them that sin is ugly and virtue beautiful.” From this point on, he took it upon himself to be a sort of referee of the street children, paying careful attention to them and instructing them how to behave. As an educational reformer, St. John Bosco developed teaching methods based on reason, religion and loving kindness rather than punishment, methods which came to be known as the Silesian Preventive System. For those of us who have some role to play in the education and upbringing of children we do well to remember that kindness and reason are more effective teachers than harsh punishment. For instance, when children lie, it is far better to explain to them the deleterious effects of lying (i.e., that they will damage their reputation and people will not trust them), than to punish them harshly. –Christopher Simon