Day 48 Control

"A Woman Teaching a Child to Walk with Leading Strings" Rembrandt c. 1635

                                                        (see also Authority)
 
“Problem before the Educator. ––The problem before the educator is to give the child control over his own nature, to enable him to hold himself in hand as much in regard to the traits we call good, as to those we call evil….”

                                                       *
 
“Let him get into the habit of managing himself, controlling himself, and it is astonishing how much self-compelling power quite a young child will exhibit.”

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“Qualities proper to a Ruler. ––Nobody understood this better than Queen Elizabeth (I), who contrived to make a curious division of her personality and be, at the same time, a model ruler and, as a woman, full of the weaknesses of her sex. It has been well said that she knew when to yield and how to yield. Her adroitness in getting over many a dangerous crisis has been much praised by historians; but, possibly, this saving grace was not adroitness so much as the tact born of qualities proper to all who are set in authority––the meekness of one who has been given an appointed work, the readiness to take counsel with herself and with others, the perception that she herself was not the be-all and the end-all of her functions as a queen, but that she existed for her people, and the quick and tender open-minded sympathy which enabled her to see their side of every question as well as her own––indeed, in preference to her own. These are the qualities proper to every ruler of a household, a school, or a kingdom. With these, parents will be able to order and control a fiery young brood full of energy and vitality, as Elizabeth was, to manage the kingdom when the minds of men were in a ferment of new thought, and life was intoxicating in the delightfulness of the possibilities it offered.”

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“Children must Stand or Fall by their own Efforts. ––In another way, more within our present control, we do not let children alone enough in their work. We prod them continually and do not let them stand or fall by their own efforts. One of the features, and one of the disastrous features, of modern society, is that, in our laziness, we depend upon prodders and encourage a vast system of prodding.”

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“Independent Intellectual Development of Children. ––We do not sufficiently recognise the independent intellectual development of children which it is our business to initiate and direct, but not to control or dominate.”
 
 

Examen: Anytime I start with a “so that,” I am in danger of making the outcome or behaviour more important than the person in front of me. Do I know how to work effectively toward the goal of the child’s own self-control? Where am I still prodding?

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The problem before: Charlotte M. Mason, Home Education,  1:103.
Let him get into: 1:329.
Qualities proper to:  Charlotte M. Mason, School Education, 3:18.
Children must stand: 3:39.
Independent Intellectual Development: 3:122.
Anytime I start: Bestvater, The Living Page.
 
Day 48 Control meditation/100n Days copyright Laurie Bestvater 2025

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