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Great accomplishments are required of fathers and mothers before Satan has
power to tempt little children. It is the responsibility of the
parents to lay a solid
foundation by teaching Church standards by example and by precept.
To the sisters, this means they must make a career of motherhood. They must
let nothing supersede that career.
- Teachings of Presidents of the Church Harold B. Lee, p.143
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The early years are set aside
as a time when the foundations of faith are to be instilled by the
parents. Children are, and are to be, protected from Satan. Like
tender hot-house plants, these little spirits must be nurtured and cared for by
the best efforts of their parents.
We have not given proper focus to this
set-apart time and the enormity of the responsibility placed on parents.
Done correctly, it is a sublime and simple assignment: be a Saint and show
your children the way.
The curriculum for the newborn is love.
It begins with human touch and interaction -- when a bay's needs are met he
feels good about the world. Crying is not a misbehavior, but a
message.
Then comes music, the universal
language. A child should grow up with beautiful music to feed his
soul.
Then comes beauty, both in nature and in the home.
The home should be a place of order and simplicity. The child should be
shown the beautifies of nature and taught about the Creator of these wonders.
A child needs plenty of time for
creative play. He should have art supplies, Lego sets, dress-up clothes,
etc. Then work. And foundational to it all is faith.
No formal educational system is
needed. Parents
simply talk to their children and read to them. This works best when the
parents have first filled their souls with great thoughts and great wisdom.
Parents work with their children, take them to parks and other interesting
places, and sometimes play with them. They pray together
and serve together.
Outside influences on the Protected Child
should be most carefully watched. Parents who send a young child off to a school will find his personality and
his responses altered. This is not a matter to be taken lightly.
Children should leave the next for short flights
to visit friends as they have the desire; parents should not leave them.
It is not by accident but by Divine design
that children come to love what their parents love. This is the power
-- or the curse -- of family tradition.
Dr. Oliver DeMille speak s
of this time as the
"Core Phase," the time to teach true and false, right and wrong, good
and bad. His wife, Rachel, puts it this way:
THE CORE PHASE:
This is roughly from the ages 0-8 years. During this period we lay the
foundation for all learning and service in the child’s life. The
"curriculum" is simply right and wrong, good and bad, relationships,
family values and routines, learning accountability. Any attempt to
institutionalize or systemize this learning phase creates in the child’s
mind conflict. Children are very impressionable and eager to please, and will
conform to the rules given them in this phase. This includes the more abstract
lessons on "what is success?" "what is maturity?",
"how do I resolve conflict?", "what is home?", "what
is my relationship with God?", "what is my relationship with
others?", "what is my duty?" and so forth.
When
we focus on academic achievement during this phase it can a) serve to teach
our children that they dislike academics because everything is hard and
boring, or b) offer our children an alternate source of self-worth than faith,
good works and accountability. Simply being active in Church is not sufficient
to instill in our children the lessons of the Core Phase. They must be
acquired through daily symbolic experiences in home life, uncomplicated by the
secondary goals of academic achievement.
-
Rachel DeMille, A Call to Closeness,
LDS-HEA quarterly newsletter, issue #34
see
also A Thomas
Jefferson Education by Oliver DeMIlle,
President, George Wythe College, www.gwc.edu
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I have commanded you to bring up your
children in light and truth.
D&C 93:40
. . . As we train a new generation, so will the world be in a few years.
If you
are worried about the future, then look to the upbringing of your children.
- Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley, p.51
Children are like trees. When they are young, their lives can be shaped
and directed, usually with ever so little effort.
- Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley, p. 421
It is a fundamental
truth that the responsibilities of motherhood cannot be successfully
delegated. No, not to day-care centers, not to schools, not to nurseries,
not to baby-sitters.
- Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p. 515
A child needs a mother
more than all the things money can buy. Spending time with
your children is the greatest gift of all.
- Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p. 515
I feel confident that
while civic and social activities may be rewarding, a mother will
serve her
community and her nation best if she first devotes herself to the needs
of her
own children.
- Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p. 518
His greatest
concern was with children before the age of eight. He taught us that
before
the age of accountability Satan had no influence on a child. Before that age
was the time to teach our children about Christ, faith and repentance.
Hundreds of hours spent then would save tens of
thousands of hours teaching,
preaching, and mourning later.
- Hans Anderson, speaking of his father, H.
Verlan Andersen,
close friend of President Ezra Taft Benson and member of the Quorum of the
Seventies
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