Thursday's Thought

Early one morning I heard a short homily, “If the only religion you know is the one you learned as a child, no wonder you left your faith.” It made me want to shout out, “Foul ball!”

It made me cringe until I picked up William Bennett’s book The Educated Child, 1999 and was reminded how the early years are the most critical period in a child’s formation.

From Part One, The Preschool Years, the first paragraph includes, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it,” Proverbs.

And, “The most important part of education is right training in the nursery” – Plato.

Reaching into my own Catholic tradition, I recalled, “Give me a child before he is six, and he’s mine forever.” The Jesuit who said it knew first impressions are lasting.

Making lasting impressions in any of life’s disciplines is a teacher’s struggle. Getting children to love the arts and sciences, languages, history and geography and especially religion is a matter of presentation.

The arts, after all, are the many languages of the heart. Without a working knowledge of music, art, and literature at a teacher’s fingertips, an emotional void darkens any classroom and the languages of the heart fail to materialize.

On the other hand, the simple acts of turning on first class music and drawing children’s attention to certain pieces welcomes the curious child; music is easy and delightful and lifts the heart.

Reading poetry is another fundamental fine art that children love and sadly miss because the timidity of reading something more elevated than directions confounds a lot of adults.

Capturing a child’s curiosity about the world around him is early childhood science. Bring science into the classroom in the form of a hedgehog. Children will fixate on a rather dull creature whose primary interest is in going forward. That says something about children and the ease of presenting childhood science.

Add a new interest in clouds, shapes and patterns and movement, include a kite, and again the captive audience will remain for weeks, fixated on looking up.

Presenting history as a story is early history. “Matthew was a pilgrim boy; he lived in a place called Massachusetts. Let’s all say Massachusetts. Five times every day, Matthew carried water in a wooden bucket, just like this from the stream near his house (now show a bucket, let the children try to carry it). He fed corn to his pet goose. Matthew wore a big white shirt and pants with buttons.” And that’s how it starts.

Religion captures the heart when it is taught from the heart. But don’t tell me; show me.

Pick up an art book and ten children will come to see what’s in it. Turn on music and the desire to move to the music is nearly unstoppable. Read a story about God to children and they begin to explore in their minds. Bring life into the classroom like plants and animals, and the delight will astound anyone.

Give me a child before he is six, and he’s mine forever. It says it all.