Dear Andy and Anne,
The other day I was teaching the truth to a 30-year old who could barely read. Naturally, there was a problem with his reading the Bible. But there was another element as well that I had not fully expected. His mind was not lively; it was dull and slow like a machine that was rusty from little use.
The more we talked, other characteristics began to evidence themselves: his attention span was very short. We would start on a topic but he could only stay with it for a few minutes and then he seemed to lose concentration. And he was easily discouraged about working diligently to pursue a long-term objective. He wanted quick solutions.
An early start
Then I began to think about the childhood you and Anne experienced. You both have lively, questioning, alert minds. Neither of you are geniuses, but you read well and can stick to a long-term project and see it through. While these abilities are not godly characteristics in themselves, they have served you well in understanding the truth and in applying it to your marriage and to your ecclesial lives.
Why do you both have lively minds? Because in both cases your parents encouraged you to develop them. I can remember Andy’s Mom talking to him as he toddled around behind her. She would explain how to clean house, how to cook meals, how his toys worked, what real fire trucks were for and she would talk about Bible stories to him, drawing out the lessons. He didn’t understand everything she was saying, and wasn’t particularly interested in cleaning house even when he was young. But all the time his mind was being stimulated.
Then there were the flash cards and the flannel boards that were used to teach the alphabet and beginning arithmetic. And to this date, there are maps and charts still hanging on the walls from when he learned the kings, the judges, the 12 apostles, the sons of Jacob, etc.
1 know Anne’s Mom did the same with her and her Dad told me how he used to read her to sleep with books. One time he confided in me that as Anne got older, and the books got better, he would finish a chapter, put her to bed then go in the living room and finish the book because he wanted to see what happened.
Andy, you also will remember the board games we used to play as a family. I can still remember you getting very excited when you won at monopoly. You proved to be a formidable opponent in chess. But the bottom-line of all those activities is that your mind was being kept well-oiled; it was being exercised so that it would be lively and alert.
At the time, you may have made no connection between what was happening and the word of God, but all the time we had your eternal wellbeing in mind. Of course, the Bible readings were the heart of our efforts as was help with your Sunday school lessons. And because we both knew that a lively mind would serve you well in understanding the Bible, so we were doing other things to help you develop one.
Learning to stick to a project
There was another area in which your character was developing. You’ll remember how I used to work with you on cutting the grass– a job which you really did not enjoy. We divided the job into sections so it would not seem so overwhelming and you felt a sense of achievement each time you finished a section. In this way, you were learning to tackle a long-term job and how to approach it so as not to be discouraged. That’s an important thing to know when it comes to life in Christ. We are involved in a long-term pursuit of the goal of the kingdom and we need to develop the ability to stick with the job.
Answering questions
Anne’ s folks have told us many a time how she used to question everything they told her. Why do I have to do it? Why is that true?
They told us how they often felt like simply “pulling rank” and telling her it was true because they said so or she had to do something because of their parental authority. But they resisted taking the easy way out and explained their reasons. When scripture was involved, they would show her the passage or would explain the divine principles that were involved.
Of course, when she was little, they had to keep things on her level, but all the time they were encouraging her to be thoughtful and teaching her that it was not wrong to ask questions. Sometimes they would include her in decision-making, placing before her some alternatives which she could choose from. They wanted her to have a lively, thoughtful mind as an adult and realized her early training would have a big effect on her later development.
With your own children
Anne’s parents worked with her and we worked with you to see that you had lively minds. Now you need to do the same for your children.
Particularly in the early years, much of the burden in this regard falls on the mother. It’ s Anne who spends many hours with the youngsters before they start school and who will be there to greet them when they return home. One of the reasons we’re so thankful you married her is that we know she’s up to the challenge. She has a lively mind herself, will take the time to give answers and has the ability to patiently pursue a long-term objective.
When looking for a partner, we know you were looking for these qualities and this is one area where your own wisdom will pay rich dividends. But, like all families today, you face a great enemy in the development of your children mind’s. Television.
The TV Threat
In the June, 1981 issue of Parene s magazine, there was a most interesting report of the impact of TV on reading skills. The study involved three Canadian cities. When the first tests were run, “one of the cities had no TV, one had only public TV programs and one had both public and commercial stations. Children in the city with no TV had superior reading skills to those in the other two. Children in the city with only public TV had better scores than those in the city with both commercial and public TV. Two years later, after TV had been introduced into the city with no TV, a follow-up study revealed that the reading skills of younger, elementary-school children in that city had deteriorated to the level of the other cities. On the other hand, the reading skills of the eighth-grade children, who presumably had acquired the habit of reading in a TV-less environment, didn’t change.”
Good reading skills are a tremendous asset in studying the Bible. People who don’t read well can learn and live the Truth, but it is much harder for them to do so. You want your children to have every advantage in this regard so keep the youngsters away from TV and into reading.
Instant solutions
All children are impatient. That’s a part of human nature that we have to deal with, particularly in our life in Christ. TV intensifies the problem by conditioning children to expect all problems to be solved in 30 to 60 minutes. Many a researcher has concluded that the offspring of a TV-saturated home exhibit a low tolerance for the frustration of learning.
They are concerned about secular learning while we are far more concerned about spiritual living. Here is where real frustration can build up as we wait upon God to act in our lives and to eventually set up the kingdom. Under the best of conditions, our children will have trouble developing patience and longsuffering. Television just makes such development more difficult.
The flickering image
Sometime watch the TV and see how high you can count before the scene shifts. You will rarely get past 10. Most scenes, especially advertising, average 2 to 3 seconds. This constant change serves to decrease a child’s concentration and increases his appetite for visual stimulation, rather than enhancing his mental focus. In any kind of learning, and especially in Bible study, we have to stick to a point for 15,20 minutes or sometimes an hour or two in concentrated study. If you want your children to develop minds that can accomplish this, start now by turning the TV off and encouraging them to work on projects that require sustained concentration for gradually longer periods.
Don’t take the easy way
I know that it’s easy to park the kids in front of TV and get them out ofyour hair for a while. But when you do, remember the damage it can do to their mental development and think of the great advantage they will have if, at an early age, they develop lively minds.
Much love,
Dad
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One