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Article ESSAYS ON EDUCATION.—No. III. ← Page 4 of 4
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Essays On Education.—No. Iii.
attention ? Surely in the force of that flux and reflux of speech in children which we are so prone to consider tedious . Such being the case , let us not compress so powerful a resort before we shall have taken every care to impel it in aright direction , and let this be the mother ' s especial charge for the reason that there is no one else capable of fulfilling it so well . Children have but to acquire ideas because they at first know nothing , ancl consequentlyhave every thing to ask . How important
, , therefore , how necessary it is for us to take advantage for their gradual instruction of this great means which presents itself at almost every step . But , at the same time , what a store of patience is required to listen to their inquiries , and what close attention to give to those inquiries answers of a befitting nature . If we are to imbue the child with secure and proper notions , and it is unquestionably our duty so to do , the reply which ive make to his interrogation should be in every sense
exact—that is , it should be at once clear , genuine , ancl conformable with truth—and can any reflecting individual deem this method of instruction so easy of accomplishment , as to allow of its being confided to the charge of a domestic ? A child ' s first preceptor should be indubitably the mother who administered to him his primitive bodil y aliment . Be her ' s also the task of feeding his understanding and moulding his heart during these tender years ; thus fulfilling the law of
nature , secure of eventually reaping the reward of her pleasing labours . Lastly , are alleged the obstinacy ancl caprice which children are for the most part found to possess ; but are not these qualities that are partaken of also hy servants ? and who would ever think of appointing as the guardian ancl assistant of an infirm person another to the full as helpless as himself ? For the very reason that children are apt to be capricious , it is expedient they be treated with much discrimination ,
abstaining as much from humouring them as from adopting any mode of procedure which may tend to irritate them , although the falling into one or other of these equally pernicious extremes is what most frequentl y happens ; they being sometimes humoured from a disinclination on cur parts to incur the opposing them , and at others , irritated because we lack the necessary patience to endure them . I am acquainted with tbe very excellent mother of a family who never allows of her children being
separated from her , while she knows immediately by their very manner of crying , if their tears have been occasioned by grief , necessity , or malice . In the one case , she hastens to their succour , but in the other , remains perfectl y at ease , contenting herself with saying to the child in lieu of chastising him— " retire into yonder clcset , and remain there until you are called , when you will not fail to come . " The child repairs to his place of destination , but is very soon on his return , because his disquietude not meeting in the solitude to ivhich he has been banished , either excitement or contradiction becomes immediately appeased in default of stimulant .
I think 1 have now satisfactorily refuted the principal of the objections which may be urged against my system , and I shall reserve for another Es ? ay a few observations which remain to be said on the subject of the inconvenience which it is considered children , for the most part , cause to such individuals , as either from friendship or other motives , are in the habit of frequenting their parents' habitations .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Essays On Education.—No. Iii.
attention ? Surely in the force of that flux and reflux of speech in children which we are so prone to consider tedious . Such being the case , let us not compress so powerful a resort before we shall have taken every care to impel it in aright direction , and let this be the mother ' s especial charge for the reason that there is no one else capable of fulfilling it so well . Children have but to acquire ideas because they at first know nothing , ancl consequentlyhave every thing to ask . How important
, , therefore , how necessary it is for us to take advantage for their gradual instruction of this great means which presents itself at almost every step . But , at the same time , what a store of patience is required to listen to their inquiries , and what close attention to give to those inquiries answers of a befitting nature . If we are to imbue the child with secure and proper notions , and it is unquestionably our duty so to do , the reply which ive make to his interrogation should be in every sense
exact—that is , it should be at once clear , genuine , ancl conformable with truth—and can any reflecting individual deem this method of instruction so easy of accomplishment , as to allow of its being confided to the charge of a domestic ? A child ' s first preceptor should be indubitably the mother who administered to him his primitive bodil y aliment . Be her ' s also the task of feeding his understanding and moulding his heart during these tender years ; thus fulfilling the law of
nature , secure of eventually reaping the reward of her pleasing labours . Lastly , are alleged the obstinacy ancl caprice which children are for the most part found to possess ; but are not these qualities that are partaken of also hy servants ? and who would ever think of appointing as the guardian ancl assistant of an infirm person another to the full as helpless as himself ? For the very reason that children are apt to be capricious , it is expedient they be treated with much discrimination ,
abstaining as much from humouring them as from adopting any mode of procedure which may tend to irritate them , although the falling into one or other of these equally pernicious extremes is what most frequentl y happens ; they being sometimes humoured from a disinclination on cur parts to incur the opposing them , and at others , irritated because we lack the necessary patience to endure them . I am acquainted with tbe very excellent mother of a family who never allows of her children being
separated from her , while she knows immediately by their very manner of crying , if their tears have been occasioned by grief , necessity , or malice . In the one case , she hastens to their succour , but in the other , remains perfectl y at ease , contenting herself with saying to the child in lieu of chastising him— " retire into yonder clcset , and remain there until you are called , when you will not fail to come . " The child repairs to his place of destination , but is very soon on his return , because his disquietude not meeting in the solitude to ivhich he has been banished , either excitement or contradiction becomes immediately appeased in default of stimulant .
I think 1 have now satisfactorily refuted the principal of the objections which may be urged against my system , and I shall reserve for another Es ? ay a few observations which remain to be said on the subject of the inconvenience which it is considered children , for the most part , cause to such individuals , as either from friendship or other motives , are in the habit of frequenting their parents' habitations .