So, we've had, so far, four answers to the question I posed last time: "What is the most important thing for a parent to ensure his or her child learns?"
The consensus seems to be, from what I can tell, that the one most important thing that a parent can teach his or her child is about God. Specifically, to introduce one's child to God is the first and most important responsibility of a parent. To mix what Orlinda, Juliana and Cameron said together, parents should teach their children who God is, that He loves them, and teach them to love Him back.
So, here's Question #3:
What is the second-most important thing for a parent to teach his or her child?
Thursday, April 15, 2010
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How to live a virtuous life, I should think. Including, among many other things, humility, love for others as oneself, honesty, delayed gratification, self-control, etc. Hm, perhaps the best systematic way to approach that would be the four classical virtues and the three theological virtues: justice, moderation, practical wisdom, fortitude, faith, hope, and love.
ReplyDeleteAcademically, how to read well, quickly, and thoughtfully. That would be followed closely by writing and speaking well (including how to construct a good argument) and, not so much for itself as because it intersects with all deductive thought, math. But by math I don't simply mean arithmetic by rote. A calculator can do that. Only a human can do math - careful logical connections and deductions given very simple premises about numbers and shapes - and skill at those really does transfer to skill at dealing with more complex premises. Parents need to ensure their child is learning to think deductively, and math is a good way to do that, as long as you don't neglect proofs and creative problems that exercise more of the mind than memorizing a set of steps.