Each Friday, I post an inspiring passage from For the Children’s Sake, a book by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay about the Charlotte Mason method of education and childrearing.
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Try a simple experiment. Take a small child on your knee. Respect him. Do not see him as something to be prune, form, or mold. This is an individual who thinks, acts, and feels. He is a separate human being whose strength lies in who he is, not who he will become. If his choices made now and in the future are to be good ones, this person must understand reality and see the framework of truth. In the shorthand of language we call this “knowing.” The child is a person who needs to grow in knowledge.
You have some of that knowledge. Not because you are an adult and adults are supposed to be wonderfully clever; the Bible is very clear in its teaching that there is a sense in which we must ourselves become like this little child on our knee if we are to inherit the kingdom of God. But we have knowledge because we have lived in God’s world as persons, adn that knwledge can be shared. Christians have the added perspective of God’s Word from which to explain their experience and understanding of life.
We are told my many in our generation that this small child is a cog in a machine, or even that he is a possession, like a pet animal. Many adults now “have” a child, in the same way that they “have” a washing machine or a collie dog.
We must answer: No. You are holding a person on your knee. And that is wonderful.
~Chapter 2, Children are Born Persons
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NOW ABOUT THIS GIVEAWAY!!!
I was recently given a gently used copy of For the Children’s Sake, and I would love to pass it on to one of you! If you would like to enter the giveaway, please just leave a comment. And if you blog, tweet, or facebook about it, feel free to add an additional comment for each thing you do, so that you will be entered multiple times. Giveaway is open until next Friday when I will draw a winner.
Feel free to grab a button! Two sizes, big and small!
January 13, 2012 at 5:13 pm
Hi, i’d never read any Charlotte Mason but am going to try some of her books now. I came to your blog because of your wonderful article on high functioning autistic kids (my 4 year old dd has hfa) and am glad I found it. Take care and God bless, Eloise xx
January 13, 2012 at 5:44 pm
Love this book! I would love to have a copy for my own.
January 14, 2012 at 3:07 am
Dear Stephanie,
Your are now a blog post title! I answered your question over at Sage Parnassus. HTH.
Truly,
Nancy
http://sageparnassus.blogspot.com/2012/01/dear-stephanie-word-about-attention.html
January 17, 2012 at 10:08 pm
Hi Stephanie,
I would definitely be interested in reading this book. I am doing My Father’s World with my two youngest this year and For the Children’s Sake was a book they recommended parents reading.
January 19, 2012 at 6:38 pm
I’ve never read this book, but it looks good!