|
Author: Elisabeth Elliot
Source: Keep A Quiet Heart
Scripture:
…with All Your Mind
How can parents encourage intellectual pursuits with their children?A friend who has four boys, the oldest of whom is eight, prints a different hymn and several Scripture verses each week and posts them on a large, stiff cardboard in the breakfast nook. The whole family learns the hymn and verses. She has a chart showing each child’s chores. This may not sound very intellectual, but the orderly doing of household chores forms habits of an orderly life, and orderly lives and orderly minds go together. This same mother bought a microphone and small public address system. She has each child stand up at one end of the living room while the others sit in a row like an audience and listen to him recite a verse, a hymn, a poem, or make a short speech. This teaches poise, articulation, the art of speaking up, standing still, keeping the hands relaxed, etc. The same thing could probably be accomplished with a pretend microphone–an ice cream dipper, for example.Teach your children to memorize! Their ability to quickly pick up anything you repeat often enough is nearly miraculous. One week when I was with my grandchildren for four days, the seven-year-old and the five-year-old learned to repeat the Greek alphabet almost perfectly in that time. I didn’t make a federal case out of it, but merely repeated it now and then at odd moments. The five-year-old was quickest to learn it, probably because she thought it was fun while her brother thought it was kind of crazy.
Ask questions at the table which will make children think. For example, God answers prayer–does that mean that God always gives us exactly what we ask for? Help the child to find the answers in Bible stories.
Read aloud to children. My father did this for us as long as we lived at home. He would bring a book to the table and read a paragraph, or share something in the evening as we all sat in the living room reading our own books.
Buy a microscope or a magnifying glass. Study a housefly’s leg or the dust from a moth’s wing, etc.
Have a globe on which they can find any country they hear named in the news or in conversation.
Teach them to see illustrations of abstract truth in concrete objects. This is how Jesus taught–by the use of parables.
James Boswell, biographer, tells how when Samuel Johnson was still a child in petticoats, his mother put a prayer book into his hands, pointed out the collect for the day, and said, “Sam, you must get this by heart.” She went upstairs, leaving him to study it. By the time she had reached the second floor, she heard him following her. “What’s the matter?” she said. “I can say it,” he replied, and repeated it distinctly, though he could not have read it more than twice.
Was he a genius at that age? Perhaps. But I think it more likely that his intellectual powers owed much to his parents’ expectations and patient instruction. Expect little and you’ll surely get it.
|
Recently, my mom sent each of the kids some spending money for Christmas. We were out doing some last minute shopping on Saturday, and Jonathan brought his wallet with him hoping to find some little treasure. There were several things he was eyeing up, but in the end he decided to wait to buy something. The next morning we went to church. During the offering, Jonathan reached into his back pocket and excitedly said “Wait, Mom! I want to give!” I watched in awe as our youngest little boy cheerfully gave all he had. When I asked him about it later, he said he gave because God’s been giving us stuff lately and he felt like that’s what he was supposed to do. Jonathan is wise beyond his years. The really cool thing about this story is that shortly after the service was over, some friends approached us with a Christmas gift — they blessed us with $200 to buy Christmas presents for our children! God is amazing! And, Jonathan learned about reaping and sowing that day. He gave all he had. And, God blessed him beyond measure for his faithfulness and willingness to give.
