The Nature of the Child

“I mowed the lawn really fast today! I just kept telling myself I could. I don’t usually mow it fast because I’m too angry and I don’t want to do it.”- Rafal

“Life is designed by God to be a spiritual womb, a place where the work of creation continues. Yes, the physical creation is complete and He is rested from it; but the moral creation goes on. Men are not born wise, righteous, experienced or developed in consciousness.” -Michael Pearl

Rafal came to terms with his chore and his attitude. There isn’t a price tag I could put on an epiphany of spirit conquering flesh. The moral creation continues. Rafal was not born wise but his experience is driving him there.

Every child is born to exist in a constant condition of need and dependence. -Michael Pearl

Their wants are their reality. As a baby enters toddler-hood, he is still driven by need and cannot distinguish need from want. If he wants a toy, he assumes he needs it. If a parent wants to raise a BABY, then meet every want, indulge the fit, give him the toy, the candy, etc.. If the parent intends to raise a wise, righteous, morally developed adult, then the parent must temporarily become the conscience for the child.

Imagine a child behaving ten years from now the same way he is now. Would it be acceptable? A three- year-old permitted to grab a toy from another child without consequence will become a thirteen-year-old who feels free to take from others.

It is the parents’ responsibility to condition a child to do good. Bad behavior is not a stage, it is a habit. A child permitted to grab candy from the shelf at Walmart and rip it open will not grow out of the habit. On the contrary, the habit will grow.

Children need security. Control is how the sinful nature tries to get it. Control only leads to a guilt-ridden soul which is too much of a burden for a small child. Parents who take the reigns and train and condition the child create security.

Raise adults, not children. The world is full of childish adults.

A self-confident and foolish son is a grief to his father and bitterness to her who bore him. -Proverbs 17:25