What Children Need From Parents
ALL parents participate in an event that is beyond full human understanding. They each contribute a part of themselves. As a result, what develops within the mother is a fully formed living person. It is not surprising, therefore, that when a baby is born, people speak of the event as “the miracle of birth.”
Of course, producing children is only the beginning of the responsibility of parents. At first, human babies are almost entirely dependent, but as they grow, they need more than physical attention. They need help to develop mentally, emotionally, morally, and spiritually.
To realize wholesome development, children especially need the love of parents. Although verbal expressions of love are important, actions need to back up the words. Yes, children need a good parental example. They need moral guidance, principles by which to live. And they need these from their tender years on. Heartbreaking things can and do happen when children do not receive help until it is too late.
The best principles that can be found anywhere are those found in the Bible. Instruction based on the Bible has unique advantages. Through such instruction, children come to realize that what they are being told is, not what some human says, but what their Creator, their heavenly Father, says. This gives the counsel strength that cannot be equaled.
The Bible encourages parents to work hard to impress right principles on the minds of their children. As children grow older, however, parents often find it difficult to talk with them about things that matter the most. This book, Learn From the Great Teacher, is designed to help prevent such a situation from developing. It will provide you and your children with spiritual material to read together. But more than that, it should stimulate conversation between young ones and those who read this book with them.
You will notice that the book calls for a response on the part of children. Many well-placed questions are provided in the printed material. When you come to these, you will see a dash (—). This is a reminder to pause and encourage the child to express himself. Children like to be involved. Without that involvement, a child will quickly lose interest.
More important, though, these questions will help you to learn what is on the child’s mind. True, the child may come out with answers that are not correct. But the printed material that follows each question is designed to help the child to develop wholesome patterns of thinking.
A special feature of the book is its more than 230 pictures. Most of these have captions that call for a response from the child, based on what he sees and has read. So review the pictures with the child. They can be a fine teaching aid that will drive home the lessons being taught.
When the child learns to read, encourage him to read the book to you as well as to himself. The more he reads it, the more its good counsel will be impressed on his mind and heart. But to strengthen the bonds of affection and respect between you and your child, by all means read the book together, and do it regularly.
In a way that seemed almost unimaginable a few decades ago, children are exposed to illicit sex, spiritism, and other degrading practices. So they need protection, which this book helps to provide in a dignified yet straightforward manner. Yet, children especially need to be directed to the Source of all wisdom, our heavenly Father, Jehovah God. This is what Jesus, the Great Teacher, always did. We sincerely hope that this book will help you and your family to mold your lives so as to be pleasing to Jehovah, to your eternal blessing.