by Pat Lamb (www.patlambchristianauthor.com)

Train up a child…

Experience is the Best Teacher

         Now that the end of school is near, thoughts naturally turn toward summer activities.  It is a good idea to plan activities for the summer that will teach children those needed things that the school curriculum cannot cover. School vacation is perhaps the only opportunity to teach children what they need to know to provide a good home for their children when they grow up. It also provides an opportunity for family outings that will enhance a child’s understanding of what is taught from books in school.

         Providing experiences during the summer months is the best way to teach children.  These experiences should include the actual doing of housecleaning, cooking, and home maintenance.  In addition, trips should be planned to take children where they can experience first hand some of the historical sites or places of interest.

         A good way to plan the summer is to sit down with the children and ask each to say what he/she would choose to do to help in the home. Children who make a choice are more likely to do the task. If the parent simply gives an ultimatum, the children will complain more.  Ideally, a discussion will occur where the parents explain the reason for the children taking part in the home.  They need to know that it is for their own good as well as to help the family. Chores appropriate to ability need to be selected by each child and a chart should be made to indicate when the child accomplishes the activity.  

Whenever possible, dad and mom need to work side by side with the children to demonstrate how chores are to be done. It is tempting to demand perfection on a child’s first try. The child needs time to master chores and should not be expected to excel right away. Dad or mom can demonstrate how to mop a floor, wash windows, vacuum, polish furniture, dust, or clean special items around the house.  Both boys and girls should be helping in the kitchen with food preparation and cleaning. 

Short or long vacation trips should be planned that will not only be fun, but will be educational.  State and national parks are wonderful places to take children. These trips really do a great deal to add to a child’s vocabulary and when certain events are studied in school, children can relate what they experienced to the reading in the textbook. When a child has a large vocabulary, that child is better able to comprehend what is being read.  Children automatically increase their vocabulary through experiences.

One often overlooked experience that children definitely need is that of church attendance.  How sad it is to realize that there are many children who have never attended a church service.  How can children understand how our constitution came about if they have no knowledge of spiritual beliefs?  How can they grow up to appreciate the reason for the forming of our country if they know nothing about the spiritual beliefs of others?  There are churches all around us and it costs no money to take children to see what happens in church.

It is so very important to keep children busy. If they aren’t kept busy with positive activities, they are left to contrive their own busy-ness, and that is often not a good thing.