לזכות ר' יצחק יונה בן חנה
מרת הענא מרים בת חנה
וכל יוצאי חלציהם
מרת הענא מרים בת חנה
וכל יוצאי חלציהם
How does one educate a child? Many think [if we think about it at all - it is remarkable how many parents never actually give a thought to the methodology, goals and strategies of raising their own children] that the child is an "empty vessel" and we must fill him or her with knowledge, understanding, values, guide behavior, develop talents etc..
That is true but only partially. The child that comes out of his or her mother's womb is actually FILLED with positive qualities, such as the notion of complete belief in Hashem, their sense of wonder and pure innocence. These are childhood qualities that we have to work hard not to corrupt and twist.
So we have two tasks - One is to preserve the purity of the child and not corrupt his natural goodness. The other is to teach and and help the child develop. We instinctively often look down on children because they lack our sophistication, experience, knowledge etc. But we have to remember to respect the children for all they possess that we long ago lost. If you have ever seen a woman dressed in a provocative way and lusted after her [which most of us probably did in the last 12 hours] then at that very moment every Jewish child is more pure than you will ever again be. That applies equally if you have ever witnessed an act of violence or cruelty or even read today's newspaper.
It is not for nothing that Chazal say that in the merit of the Torah learned by pure sinless children, the world stands.
We adults have very important jobs to do and are entrusted with the sacred task of fixing Hashem's world but we must never forget how much we have to gain and learn from our pure children.
By allowing children to surf the net and giving them smartphones with unlimited access to all of the filth of the world, parents are destroying their children. This has nothing to do with hashkafa - it is a spiritual reality and educational axiom that such permissiveness is destructive to the delicate soul of the child.
So kiss your children, compliment them, tell them how special they are in a very specific way, daven for them and thank Hashem you have them!! Not everyone is so fortunate.
Says the Rav ztz"l:
