Chapter 51—Preparing for School
The First Eight or Ten Years—Children should not be long con-
fined within doors, nor should they be required to apply themselves
closely to study until a good foundation has been laid for physical
development. For the first eight or ten years of a child’s life the field
or garden is the best schoolroom, the mother the best teacher, nature
the best lesson book. Even when the child is old enough to attend
school, his health should be regarded as of greater importance than
a knowledge of books. He should be surrounded with the conditions
most favorable to both physical and mental growth
It is customary to send very young children to school. They are
required to study from books things that tax their young minds.... This
course is not wise. A nervous child should not be overtaxed in any
direction
The Child’s Program During Infancy—During the first six or
seven years of a child’s life, special attention should be given to its
physical training, rather than the intellect. After this period, if the
physical constitution is good, the education of both should receive
attention. Infancy extends to the age of six or seven years. Up to this
period children should be left, like little lambs, to roam around the
house and in the yards, in the buoyancy of their spirits, skipping and
jumping, free from care and trouble.
Parents, especially mothers, should be the only teachers of such
infant minds. They should not educate from books. The children
generally will be inquisitive to learn the things of nature. They will
ask questions in regard to things they see and hear, and parents should
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improve the opportunity to instruct and patiently answer those little
inquiries. They can in this manner get the advantage of the enemy
and fortify the minds of their children by sowing good seed in their
hearts, leaving no room for the bad to take root. The mother’s loving
1
Education, 208
.
2
Fundamentals of Christian Education, 416
.
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