The mind of a little child is like a blank book.
The Bible says that, "Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child".
The eyes of a little child are like a video camera.
Also the ears of a little child are like a tape recorder.
Whatever the child hears and sees can linger in its memory for a life time.
That is why the Bible says in Proverbs 22:6, "Teach your children to choose the right path, and when they are older, they will remain upon it" (Ne w Living Translation).
I want to state here that the responsibility of the initial training of the child is the sole responsibility of parents.
If you neglect to do your responsibility, you will definitely bear the consequence.
It is said that what you fail to teach your children, others may teach them the wrong way.
The problem is that a lot of parents don't even know what they should teach their children.
I will like to point a few things that I believe will be helpful in molding a child's characters, if you will be able to teach them.
Training is a way of wisdom.
It straightens a man.
1.
A.
THE FEAR OF GOD: Teach the child the fear of God if you are a Christian.
Why I said, if you are a Christian is because, you cannot teach what you don't know.
Teach the child the sacredness of holiness.
Teach the child that there is a God we ought to fear, reverence and worship.
The child may ask you questions about God.
For example, "Where is God?" You need to tell the child and not procrastinate.
b.
PRAYER: The child should be taught how to pray.
This should be done by the parent by showing example.
The child should be told why he should pray.
c.
THE BIBLE: The child should be taught the Bible as the word of God and to keep his commandment.
2.
OBEDIENCE: Teach the child obedience and the reward of being obedient.
When the child obeys his or her parent it brings blessing on the child.
The life span of a child depends on the obedience of the child.
"Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.
Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth" (Ephesians 6:1-3).
3.
RESPECT: Teach the child to respect elders both within and outside the family.
These days children are so disrespectful.
Some children talk back at their parent and even go as far as insulting and beating up their parent.
The problem is basically is from the home.
When parent notice that their children are becoming disrespectful, instead of disciplining the child, they say, "He is still a child".
As the child grows up, he or she gets out of control.
So it very important for parents to start early to teach their children respect.
4.
NEATNESS AND ORDERLINESS: Parents should start early to teach their children how to be neat and orderly.
The parents should do the house work but also allow the children to do certain things.
You will see that with time the child will be use to domestic work and neatness.
When the parents do all the domestic jobs or engage the service of house helps to do all the domestic jobs.
The child grows to be lazy.
5.
FORGIVENESS: Teach the child to forgive whenever he or she is being offended.
This actually calls for parents to lead by example.
You cannot teach the child to forgive, whereas you don't.
Children learn more by just watching what their parents do.
You can't tell your children to forgive people who hurt them while they see that you find it difficult to forgive people that hurt you.
6.
LOVE: Parents should start early to teach their children to love other people as well as themselves.
It is very unfortunate that some parents teach the children to hate people.
More especially, those they term as their enemies.
I don't think it is wise to drag your children into your personal problem with people.
Some parents tell their children to hate people who wrong them even before the children were born.
When you teach a child to love people, he or she grows up healthier than a child that is hateful and bitter.
A hateful child will not only grow up to hurt others but will also hurt himself.
A loving child usually grows up to be mentally, emotionally and psychologically sound 7.
HUMILITY: Teach your child to be humble.
The Bible says, "Pride goeth before a fall".
When a child is proud and not corrected, he becomes very stubborn, arrogant and abusive.
He or 8.
HONESTY: Parents should teach their children to be honest at all time.
Some parents want their children to be truthful while they are pathological liars.
If you want your child to be truthful and honest, you must also be honest and truthful.
A story was told about a man who owed somebody some money.
When his creditor came for the money, the father told his son to tell his creditor that he is not around.
As innocent as the child was, he went to the man and said, "My daddy said that I should not tell you that he is in the bedroom but I should tell you that he has traveled".
Guess what happened...
the creditor went into the bedroom to demand for his money.
9.
RIGHT AND WRONG: Teach the child what is right and wrong.
Some people claim that right and wrong is a matter of perception.
But I don't think that is true.
God has given us conscience.
When you do something that is wrong your conscience pricks you.
It takes some time of continuous wrong doing for a person's conscience to be dead.
10.
HARD WORK: Teach your children to be hard working and industrious.
Don't over pamper your child, less he becomes lazy and foolish.
Teach the child that there is dignity in labour.