What to Teach and How to Do It

19. (a) What is needed besides spending time with children? (b) What do parents primarily need to teach young ones?

¹⁹ Simply spending time with children and even teaching them is not all there is to rearing them successfully. Vital, too, is what is taught. Notice how the Bible emphasizes what this should be. “These words that I am commanding you today,” it says, “you must inculcate . . . in your son.” What are “these words” that children need to be taught? Evidently, they are the words that had just been mentioned, namely: “You must love Jehovah your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your vital force.” (Deuteronomy 6:5-7) Jesus said that this is the most important of all God’s commandments. (Mark 12:28-30) Parents primarily need to teach young ones about Jehovah, explaining why he alone is worthy of our whole-souled love and devotion.

20. What were parents of old commanded by God to teach their children?

²⁰ However, “these words” that parents are urged to teach their children include more than simply to love God with one’s whole self. You will notice that in the preceding chapter of Deuteronomy, Moses restates the laws that God wrote on tablets of stone​—the Ten Commandments. These laws include commands not to lie, not to steal, not to murder, and not to commit adultery. (Deuteronomy 5:11-22) So the need to impart moral values to their children was impressed upon parents of old. Christian parents today need to provide their children with similar instruction if they are to help them to have a secure, happy future.

21. What was meant by the instruction to “inculcate” God’s word in young ones?

²¹ Note that parents are told how they are to teach “these words,” or commandments, to their young ones: “You must inculcate them in your son.” The word “inculcate” means “to teach and impress by frequent repetitions or admonitions: urge on or fix in the mind.” So God is, in effect, telling parents to institute a planned program of Bible instruction that has the express purpose of impressing spiritual matters on the minds of their children.

22. What were Israelite parents told to do to instruct their children, and what did that mean?

²² Such a planned program takes parental initiative. The Bible says: “You must tie them [“these words,” or commandments of God] as a sign upon your hand, and they must serve as a frontlet band between your eyes; and you must write them upon the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” (Deuteronomy 6:8, 9) This does not mean that parents should literally write God’s laws on doorposts and gates, tie a copy of them on the hands of their children, and place one between their eyes. Rather, the point is that parents should constantly keep the teachings of God before their children. Teaching their children should be done in such a regular, constant way that it is as though God’s teachings are right there before the children all the time.

23. What will be considered in next week’s lesson?

²³ What are some especially important things that parents need to teach their children? Why is it vital today that children be both taught and trained to protect themselves? What assistance is now available to parents to help them teach their children effectively? These and other questions that concern many parents will be considered in the following article.

Teaching That Imparts Wisdom

6. (a) Why do children often act unwisely? (b) What battle is going on?

⁶ Often young ones act improperly, not because they have not been taught what is right, but because the teaching has not reached their heart​—their inner self. The Devil is waging a battle for the heart of young ones. He schemes to see that they are exposed to ungodly influences of his world. He also tries to exploit their inherited sinful inclination to do bad things. (Genesis 8:21; Psalm 51:5) Parents need to recognize that a real war is being waged for the heart of their children.

7. Why is telling a child what is right or wrong not sufficient?

⁷ Parents usually tell a child what is right or wrong, believing that they have taught him a certain moral principle. They may say to the child that it is wrong to lie, to steal, or to have sexual relations with anyone to whom one is not married. However, the child needs to have a stronger motivation for obeying than simply because his parents say so. These are Jehovah’s laws. The child should learn that the course of wisdom is to obey God’s commandments.​—Proverbs 6:16-19; Hebrews 13:4.

8. What kind of teaching can help children act wisely?

⁸ The complexity of the universe, the diversity of living things, the change of the seasons​—all such things can help a young child appreciate the existence of an all-wise Creator. (Romans 1:20; Hebrews 3:4) Further, the child should be taught that God loves him and has made provision through the sacrifice of His Son to give him eternal life and that he can make God happy by obeying what He says. Then likely the child will come to want to serve Jehovah, despite attempts of the Devil to stop him.​—Proverbs 22:6; 27:11; John 3:16.

9. (a) What does lifesaving teaching require? (b) What are fathers instructed to do, and what does this involve?

⁹ The kind of teaching that protects a child and motivates him to do what is right takes time, attention, and planning. It requires that parents accept direction from God. The Bible says: “You, fathers, . . . go on bringing [your children] up in the discipline and mental-regulating of Jehovah.” (Ephesians 6:4) What does that mean? “Mental-regulating,” in the original Greek, conveys the idea of “putting mind in.” So fathers are, in effect, urged to put the mind of Jehovah in their children. What a protection that will be for the young ones! If children have God’s thoughts, his way of thinking, inculcated in their mind, they are safeguarded against wrongdoing.

Desire Motivated by Love

10. To instruct your child effectively, what is it important for you to know?

¹⁰ In order for you to fulfill your desire to bring your child up properly, however, your efforts need to be prompted by love. An important factor is good communication. Find out what is happening in your youngster’s life and what his or her views are. In a comfortable setting, tactfully draw out your child. At times, you may be shocked by what he says. Be very careful not to overreact. Rather, listen with sympathetic concern.

11. How can a parent put God’s mind in a child?

¹¹ True, you may have read to your child from the Bible about God’s laws prohibiting sexual immorality, even doing so a number of times. (1 Corinthians 6:18; Ephesians 5:5) This may have impressed upon your young ones what is pleasing and not pleasing to Jehovah. However, putting his mind in a child requires more. Children need help to reason on the value of Jehovah’s laws. They need to be convinced that his laws are right and good and that obeying them is the proper and loving thing to do. Only if you reason with your children from the Scriptures so that they accept God’s viewpoint can it be said that you have put his mind in them.

12. How can a parent help his child to get the proper view of sexual relations?

¹² When talking about sex, you might ask, “Do you think that obeying Jehovah’s law not to have sexual relations before marriage will rob a person of happiness?” Encourage your child to explain his answer. After reviewing God’s marvelous provision for producing a child, you might ask: “Do you think our loving God would make laws to rob us of enjoyment of life? Or do you think his laws are there to make us happy and to protect us?” (Psalm 119:1, 2; Isaiah 48:17) Get your child’s thinking on this matter. Then you might draw attention to examples of how sexual immorality has led to heartache and trouble. (2 Samuel 13:1-33) By reasoning with your child so that he understands and accepts God’s view, you will have gone a long way toward putting God’s mind in him. However, there is something else you can do.

13. Understanding what can especially motivate a child to obey Jehovah?

¹³ Wisely, you will not only teach your child the consequences of disobeying Jehovah but also explain how Jehovah is personally affected by the way we live. Show your child from the Bible that we can cause Jehovah pain when we fail to do his will. (Psalm 78:41) You might ask, “Why do you not want to hurt Jehovah?” and explain: “God’s enemy Satan claims that we serve Jehovah for selfish reasons and not because we love him.” Then explain that by keeping integrity, Job made God’s heart rejoice, thus providing an answer to Satan’s lying charge. (Job 1:9-11; 27:5) Your child needs to understand that depending on how he behaves, he can make Jehovah either sad or happy. (Proverbs 27:11) This and many other vital lessons can be taught to children by using the book Learn From the Great Teacher.a

Gratifying Results

14, 15. (a) Which lessons in the Teacher book have motivated children? (b) What good results have you had from using the book? (See also box on pages 18-19.)

¹⁴ A grandfather in Croatia who reads the Teacher book with his seven-year-old grandson writes that the boy told him the following: “Mum said to do something, but I didn’t want to do it. Then I remembered the chapter ‘Obedience Protects You,’ so I went back and told her I would be obedient to her.” Regarding the chapter “Why We Should Not Lie,” a couple in Florida, U.S.A., said: “It provides questions that invite children to open their hearts and admit errors they would otherwise not admit.”

¹⁵ The Teacher book has more than 230 pictures, and there is a caption, or description, for each picture or group of pictures. “Often my son will fix his eyes on a picture and not want the page turned,” noted one appreciative mother. “Not only are the pictures appealing but they teach lessons on their own, or at least cause children to ask questions. Regarding a picture in which a child is watching television in a darkened room, my son asked, ‘Mommy, what is that boy doing?’ in a tone that indicated that he knew that something was wrong.” The caption to the picture reads: “Who can see everything we do?”

Vital Education for Today

16. What is it vital that children be taught today, and why?

¹⁶ Children need to know the proper and the improper use of their private body parts. Yet, talking about this is not always easy. A newspaper columnist observed that she grew up in an era in which using words that refer to the sexual organs was considered rude. Concerning the teaching of her children, she wrote: “I’m going to have to get over my embarrassment.” Truly, when out of embarrassment parents avoid the subject of sex, it does not protect a child. Sexual molesters exploit a child’s ignorance. Learn From the Great Teacher addresses the subject in a wholesome, dignified manner. Informing children about sex does not take away their innocence, whereas failing to do so can lead to their being robbed of it.

17. How does the Teacher book help parents to teach their children about sex?

¹⁷ In chapter 10, when discussing the wicked angels who came to earth and fathered children, the child is asked, “What do you know about sex relations?” The book gives a simple, dignified answer. Later, chapter 32 explains how children can be protected from sexual predators. Many letters have reported that such teaching is vital. One observed: “Last week when my son Javan saw his pediatrician, she asked if we had discussed with him the proper use of private parts of the body. She was very impressed that we had done this using our new book.”

18. How does the Teacher book discuss paying homage to national emblems?

¹⁸ Another chapter deals with the Bible account of the three Hebrew youths Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who refused to bow to an image representing the Babylonian State. (Daniel 3:1-30) Some may not relate paying homage to an image to saluting the flag, as the Teacher book does. However, note what author Edward Gaffney had to say in an interview by U.S. Catholic. He mentioned that when his daughter told him after her first day at public school that she had learned a “new prayer at school,” he asked her to repeat it to him. “She put her hand on her heart,” said Gaffney, “and proudly began, ‘I pledge allegiance to the flag . . .’” He continued: “All of a sudden, it kicked in. The Jehovah’s Witnesses were right. There is an aspect of national spirituality that’s being shaped in our schools at a very early stage​—an unquestioning transcendent loyalty.”

Worth All the Effort

19. What rewards are there for teaching children?

¹⁹ Really, teaching your children is worth all your effort. A mother in Kansas, U.S.A., was moved to tears upon receiving a letter from her son. He wrote: “I feel very fortunate to have had an upbringing that left me relatively emotionally stable and whole. You and Daddy certainly deserve commendation.” (Proverbs 31:28) Learn From the Great Teacher can help many more parents to teach children so as to protect this precious heritage.