Parents and Children

Each summer I spend a considerable amount of time catching up on my reading....

This Summer's Booklist:

1. Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Prentiss
2. Leaf by Niggle by Tolkien
3. The Wise Woman by George MacDonald
4. Persuasion by Jane Austen
5. Home Education by Charlotte Mason (yearly read)
6. Parents and Children by Charlotte Mason

To help me better "know" what I'm reading and to remember I'll be blogging some my narrations.
One book I particularly want to *know* is Parents and Children. I want to be an encourager to parents with young children. Now that my children are growing up and flying off, I'd like to be able to offer some insight from my successes--the things that worked, and my failures--things I wish I could "do over." The Lord has shown me time and time again that He was always involved in my parenting, the good, the bad and the ugly. Either by guiding me along or by teaching me from my mistakes (even still). Sharing this with other parents seems a natural next step..
Chapter I
Jean Jacques Rousseau, may not have proved very admirable, still he mined a deep truth that resonated with a generation of parents and still does to this day to some extent. Parents have a God-given duty to raise their children. Like a letting out of the waters, Rousseau released a flood gate of parental enthusiasm which turned the hearts of fathers to the children. Although he offered little more than mere straw to the builders, his teachings succeeded in awakening parents to the serious, profound responsibility of parental obligations. Mothers and fathers were given this God-ordained task and arose to the challenge by leaving professions and occupations behind to focus their attention on training and raising their own children. He effectively stated,

"Fathers and mothers, this is your work, and only you can do it. It rests with you, parents of young children, to be the saviours of society unto a thousands generations. Nothing else matters. The avocations about which people weary themselves are as foolish child's play compared with this one serious business of bringing up our children in advance of ourselves."

And people listened.
Charlotte Mason, thinking an attempt to codify how parents may do this would be interesting, uses the rest of Volume 2 in the inadequately titled, Original Homeschooling Series to eloquently present a practical foundation on the role of the parent in the education of the child.