Targeted teaching of the virtues, which is beneficial for all areas of human and social settings, is best learned
as a child growing up. It is always better to learn character education along the way as a child as opposed to unlearning bad habits later on as an adult. Compare this concept to children learning sports. It is far better to learn how to throw, hit and field a baseball rather than to pick up wrong moves that can result that can injure a player for life. It is a well-balanced life we are seeking to teach our young ones.
From eight to twelve years old, children are mentally and emotionally ready to learn:
- Fortitude
- Perseverance
- Industriousness
- Patience
- Responsibility
- Justice
- Generosity
As with building any building, if we have not yet laid the firm foundation (from the previous post) of teaching our children the virtues of obedience, sincerity and order, then attempting to add the weight of the seven virtues mentioned above will be built upon shaky ground. It is better to go back and focus time and energy on teaching obedience, sincerity and order for them to better understand this lesson.
As children grow into puberty with all of its biological changes, it is important for them to develop their will, so as to strengthen their character. Children at this age begin making more of their own personal decisions and need the criteria in order to know whether their their efforts are going in the right direction.
According to David Isaacs, author of A Guide for Parents And Teachers CHARACTER BUILDING, “It is logical for children of this age to focus more on what they are doing, on the action itself, than on the person at the receiving end of the action. They are not yet very aware of their own intimacy. This is the stage when we should try to get children to keep things not out of obedience, but rather for the satisfaction of managing to overcome some obstacle. This is the age for challenging targets (but reasonable targets). Just as the small child is very aware of the rules of the game when playing with his companions and in general in his relationships with others, it is surely good to stimulate children to develop virtues out of a sense of duty towards their companions, for example, but without forgetting to enthuse them with a worthwhile ideal. In this way they will get the satisfaction that comes from making an effort to overcome themselves.”
As parents and teachers, how do you and I put up with annoying things? How do you and I go about continually putting in the effort to give to others? How do you and I go about attaining what we set out to achieve? How do you and I resist evil influences? These are the life events that need the solutions of fortitude, perseverance, industriousness, patience, responsibility, justice and generosity.
“To do all these things they need to set their sights high and not be content with mean ideals,” Isaacs says.
“Aiming high” means raising children’s sights up towards God. This allows children to broaden their horizons. Teaching children these human virtues helps them to develop their faith. Since all of the virtues mentioned are interconnected, it is not as confusing as it might seem by looking at these seven virtues, built upon the three previous virtues. They are all interwoven.
Using any of the situations life presents to them, all of these virtues can come into play. You and I can shine a light on these virtues, and ask them how they think, using these virtues as tools, they can skillfully work towards their desired goal.
“Where a child focuses one one or two of them, he is likely to improve also in the others,” Isaacs says.
As we watch our children blossom from the bud of a child to an opening flower of their adolescence, their own intimacy awakens in them, sparking in them the deeper understanding that they can now to do things by their own initiative. Knowing this, children are able to make a commitment to themselves, by their own decisions. They continuing learning cause and effect, the basis for justice for their thoughts, words and actions.
Parents wishing for a fun book to teach virtues to their children ages ten to fourteen can go to:
https://www.iuniverse.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/809142-the-virtue-of-virtues
God Bless