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Apples of Gold
Radio Script for October 4, 2010
“Does Your Child Know What One Means?”
Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.
If you think the school is going to teach your child everything he needs to know, think again.
I was talking to a public school kindergarten teacher recently, and she said some of her students come in and don’t even know the concept of 1 and 2. They know nothing about numbers. They can’t even put up one finger to represent the number one because they don’t know that one means one. They don’t know what it means.
She said sometimes she thinks to herself, “Where have these kids been, in a closet for five years?”
Well here’s the problem. Many parents miss the point that it is their job to teach their children. And you know what? That teaching never really stops.
I walked into the bathroom at home to wash my hands and found soap globbed up on the outside of the little dispenser. I called my children in and gave them a little lesson on how to pump soap. “You don’t hold your hand under it and whack the top of it,” I said. “You place your finger under the nozzle and gently pump out a little bit of soap. A little is all you need. Then pull your finger across so that no soap drips or is left hanging on the end of the nozzle.”
How are children supposed to know these things unless their parents teach them?
You can’t just tell your kids to do the dishes, then complain that it wasn’t done right. You have to teach them.
Training children encompasses everything, from pumping soap to learning numbers.
Last week I helped my daughter create a resume, something she had never done. Should I blame the school? That would be silly. I took responsibility for it.
Now don’t get me wrong. I am for an excellent education system; and I am also for excellent parenting. We need to teach our children the basics like their colors and the alphabet, and we need to teach them values.
This weekend I said something to my son that I’m sure he knew I was going to say, because I’ve been saying it his whole life – and now he is married with a child of his own on the way. I wasn’t even in on the conversation, I just overheard it, but I piped in my two cents’ worth. I said, “Keep your word. Always keep your word.”
That is a value that I’ve tried to drill into our four children, and everyone else who will listen. If you say you are going to do something, do it. Of course that also puts pressure on me to model it, but that’s how we pass values on to our children. We tell them, and we set a good example.
Now let’s take it a bit deeper. Parents are responsible for the development of their child’s thinking. How does your child think? What is her worldview?
My mother did a great job teaching us how to think about needy people. She taught us to see them as people who needed help, and to help them if we could.
Not every child is raised to think that way. Some parents teach their kids not to help people.
Sound far fetched? Well listen to this.
I just finished a biography of Ayn Rand. I’ve never read any of her books, but she was a very influential writer. Unfortunately she was an atheist, was anti-God, anti-religion, and get this – anti-altruism. She didn’t believe in helping people!
Barbara Branden and her future husband Nathaniel were young disciples of Ayn Rand. Listen to what she wrote about the influence on them of Rand’s novel The Fountainhead.
“Nathaniel and I were students at UCLA, he in psychology, I in philosophy. We had both separately discovered The Fountainhead when we were fifteen years old and had devoured it nonstop in a few rapt days of emotional and intellectual absorption; it had a powerful influence on the development of our thinking.”
Did you catch that last line? Ayn Rand’s book of fiction had a powerful influence on the development of their thinking.
Who is having a powerful influence on the development of your child’s thinking? Is it you the parent, or is it someone like Ayn Rand who was anti-God and anti-altruism?
Someone is going to influence the development of your child’s thinking! And by the way grandparents, someone is going to influence the development of your grandchild’s thinking. Do you want to leave that up to some stranger?
This is why a lot of parents homeschool. It’s why many others send their children to a Christian school. It’s why all parents need to choose their child’s school wisely, as well as their reading material and their neighborhood and their friends.
But most important of all is the parents’ constant involvement in the training of their children in every facet of life. Of course number one is to train them up in the Lord, involved in church and growing as a disciple of Jesus Christ. And after that comes everything else from potty training to choosing a career.
No, our kids aren’t puppets, but they will be influenced and it’s our job to make sure they are influenced for good, to become the best Christian adult citizens they can possibly be.
Comments?
E-mail me: dougapple@wave94.com.
May God bless you today! With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
© 2010 The Arrow’s Tip
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(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)
Why “The Arrow’s Tip”? Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold. Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.” I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.
Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL 32315
(850) 926-8000
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