PARENTS AS TEACHERS

Let us not forget the many unsung heroes and heroines – teachers who do not get the usual public accolades except from their own children. These are the parents who teach their children at home, whether it is a homeschool setting or an add-on to an existing school system.

These parents create an environment conducive for learning and creativity. They usually start their kids young. Their aim, however, is not to push them to join the rat race. By providing them with a well-stocked library of books — from fiction to factual, from secular to religious — and by gentle coaxing, these children spontaneously develop a love for reading. The children seek knowledge because they want to learn, not because they want to score as many A’s as possible.

Apart from academic and intellectual development, these parents are also instrumental in nurturing moral values and social etiquette in their children.

This will involve teaching and training their children in the things of God (Deuteronomy 6:6-7; Proverbs 22:6), not just providing for their physical needs or helping them to excel academically. Raising intellectual, materialistic kids who are spiritually bankrupt is a pitfall to be avoided in today’s fast-paced, go-getter world.

Teaching:

“These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up” (Deuteronomy 6:6-7).

Training:

 “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it” (Proverbs 22:6).

So let us not forget these parents who are seemingly low profile but, nevertheless, make such a tremendous impact on the lives of their children – unlike many parents who relegate the major role of teaching to the overtaxed and often inadequate formal school system.

Ultimately, children from such homes will become mature, responsible and upright individuals who are able to raise families of their own and assume a productive role in church and society.