CHAPTER X BIBLE LESSONS Parents as Instructors in Religion           “The history of England is now reduced to a game of cards,—the problems of mathematics to puzzles and riddles. . . . There wants but one step further, and the Creed and Ten Commandments may be taught in the same manner, without the necessity of the grave face, deliberate tone of recital, and devout attention … Continue reading Parents and Children Volume 2 Chapter 10

CHAPTER IX THE CULTURE OF CHARACTER The Treatment of Defects           The Ultimate Object of Education.—Suppose the parent see that the formation of character is the ultimate object of education; see, too, that character is, in the rough, the inherited tendencies of the child, modified by his surroundings, but that character may be debased or ennobled by education; that it is the parents’ part to … Continue reading Parents and Children Volume 2 Chapter 9

CHAPTER VIII THE CULTURE OF CHARACTER Parents as Trainers “What get I from my father?Lusty life and vigorous will:What from my gentle mother?Cheerful days and poet’s skill,”[1] says Goethe; for poets, like the rest of us, are born, not made, and get the most of what they are from their parents. But it did not take poet or modern scientist to discover this; people have … Continue reading Parents and Children Volume 2 Chapter 8

CHAPTER VII THE PARENT AS SCHOOLMASTER          ‘The Schoolmaster will make him sit up!’—‘Sit up,’ that is, ‘come when he’s called,’ apparently, for the remark concerned a young person who went on spinning his top with nonchalance, ignoring an intermittent stream of objurgations from his mother, whose view was that bedtime had arrived. Circumstances alter cases, but is it unheard of in higher ranks of life … Continue reading Parents and Children Volume 2 Chapter 7