We have it backwards
I think we have it backwards in our society.
We press our little ones to grow up and become little people before they are ready.
(Like that Your Baby Can Read program. Why in the world does your baby need to read??) Oh my word, I could talk all day about parents pushing academics on their children at young ages. For many, after pushing and pushing through grade school, they reach high school and it becomes about having a good time, sports, cars, dating, parties. They are told that these are the best years of their lives and they need to enjoy every minute. It doesn’t stop at high school. It continues through college and into life. There’s a whole world out there not taking responsibility for themselves (yet expecting others to do it for them). But in third grade they could probably do their times tables in under 5 minutes.
Here’s my theory:
Let children be children and then when the time comes, give them the responsibility to become a young adult rather than a teenager. Teach them how to work hard and do hard things, how to think for themselves and provide for themselves. They are capable of it. They will rise to the occasion if you expect it of them and allow them to do it. They will find incredible satisfaction in the journey. Let’s raise leaders and not followers.
So in my home, my little ones (Miss B and Sam-a-lam) are busy being children. They play and explore and build and read. I’m not worried about whether or not Sam knows his multiplication tables (he doesn’t) or if Miss B knows her alphabet (she doesn’t). I’m more concerned about the lessons they are learning in character which will last the rest of their lives. Who they are, what their role is in our family, that their Heavenly Father loves them, how to be nice, how to work hard (alongside their brothers and mom and dad), how to choose the right. And the interesting thing is that learning occurs along the way. It has to. Sam reads. Miss B counts. It happened in the course of being children rather than a strict curriculum that had to be accomplished.
I guess I’ll step down from that soap box. I have so much to say on the subject and it isn’t even the reason I started to write. I’ll add that I know that not everyone fits the mold I described. There are many wonderful young adults out there who stand for something and are going to change the world. I’ve met them. Also, I couldn’t possibly describe my entire parenting philosophy in three paragraphs. But really, I feel passionately about letting our children be children and leaving the requirements in academics for later.