I MET A COUPLE WHO WERE DETERMINED that they were goingto train their four children in the way of peace. Every night at dinnerthey gave a regular sermon on peace. But one evening I heard thefather scream at the older son.The next evening I heard the older sonscream at the younger son in the same tone of voice.What the parentssaid hadn’t made any impression at all—what they did was whatthe children were following.
Implanting spiritual ideas in children is very important. Manypeople live their entire lives according to the concepts that areimplanted in them in childhood. When children learn they will getthe most attention and love through doing constructive things, theywill tend to stop doing destructive things. Most important of all,remember that children learn through example. No matter what yousay, it is what you do that will have an influence on them.
This is a very challenging area for parents.Are you training yourchildren in the way of love which is the way of the future?
It concerns me when I see a small child watching the hero shootthe villain on television. It is teaching the small child to believe thatshooting people is heroic.The hero just did it and it was effective. Itwas acceptable and the hero was well thought of afterward.
If enough of us find inner peace to affect the institution of television,the little child will see the hero transform the villain andbring him to a good life. He’ll see the hero do something significantto serve fellow human beings. So little children will get the idea thatif you want to be a hero you must help people.
A minister I know spent some time in Russia. He saw no Russianchildren playing with guns. He visited the large toy stores inMoscow, and disc............