There seems to be no question more pressing and vital, more urgent and pressing, than the question of raising children. Indeed, it is the key to family happiness, the foundation of social well-being, the strength of nations, the beauty and happiness of life—but, strange as it may seem, it is also the potential source of the great misfortunes that darken a person's life. That is how great and important this question is.
Despite all this, no issue has always been treated by society with such inattention and disdain as the issue of education.
Modern intelligentsia are endlessly interested in and debated about forms of government, the foundations of social life, various philosophical and literary movements—but not about family and raising children. This is partly explained by the fact that the task of education is discreet and modest, yet it requires serious work, dedication, and even heroism. Modern man, however, is willing to accept and reconcile himself to anything, but not with dedication and heroism, for he views life from the standpoint of pleasure.
Without any interest in upbringing or understanding of it, modern parents entrust their children to the care of nurses, nannies, and various governesses, at best reserving for themselves only the most basic supervision and general instructions. This situation is abnormal: indeed, can a stranger, even a kind and decent one, replace a child's mother? After all, a child is flesh of its mother's flesh and bone; its soul is, as it were, a part of its mother's soul, and no power can compare to a mother's influence on a child. To entrust a child's spiritual upbringing to others is to abandon one's own child.
During school years, parents seem to care even less about their children: they shift all responsibility to the school, which is usually blamed for all their children's mental and moral shortcomings. This judgment is harsh and unfair. It's unfair because the foundation of character, all good qualities, must be instilled in a child from childhood, before school. For no school, even the most ideal, will do what parents neglected to do, much less correct what parents once sinned in. That's why the Apostle Paul commands fathers to bring up their children "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord" ( Eph. 6:4 )—not teachers.
The soul of a small child is like wax, not yet defined. Parents give it its first form, and by the age of six to eight, the child's soul has already hardened within it. By this time, the child has acquired a certain character, certain and defined habits, which are difficult to change during school age, and nearly impossible to completely replace. When a sculptor makes a statue from a mass of molten metal, he can shape it into any number of forms until the mass hardens; but once the mass hardens, the sculptor is powerless: he can do very little. This comparison is entirely applicable to the soul of a child and its early development.
So, the upbringing of a child is, first of all, the work of the parents, and not of mothers and nannies and not of the school, because no governess can replace a child’s mother, and no school can do what a family can and should do.
The first evil of modern education is the oblivion of this truth.
Furthermore, the educational issues we are addressing are so diverse and complex that it is utterly impossible to cover them all in a brief overview. Thus, a distinction is made between physical, mental, and moral, or religious-moral, education. Physical education is emphasized in our age, but again, somewhat unsuccessfully, to the detriment of the child's spiritual and character development. Rightly or wrongly, intellectual development is also emphasized, imparting it primarily through secondary and higher education; the one, but most important, education—religious-moral, or Christian—is completely neglected.
They think that baptizing a child and giving them Holy Communion once a year is enough to ensure they grow up a Christian. Alas, this is far from enough. Don't we see how our children grow up irreligious—they pray little to God, don't know the prayers, and exhibit bad temperaments? At school, these negative traits develop further, ultimately degenerating into religious atheism and complete moral depravity. How can we recognize Christians in such children?
Today's parents don't care about their children's souls and their Christian growth. They worry about their health, academic success, good manners, music, and foreign language skills—but not about their souls. Of course, these concerns are also good; but forgetting the essential and eternal simply because of the secondary and temporary is unforgivable, sinful, and detrimental to children. The absence of a clearly defined and expressed Christian goal in upbringing is the second greatest evil, the root of countless misfortunes for children in this life, and perhaps even in eternity. The ancient Christians acted differently: they lived according to the Savior's commandment— "Seek ye first the kingdom of God... and all these things shall be added unto you" ( Matthew 6:33 ). But then, family life was elevated and happy, and both parents and children were saints.
Christian education consists of protecting the child's soul from evil and sin, conquering the rudiments of passion, and making it a temple of God. May the child grow up to be a vessel of grace, a child of God, the joy of angels, the hope of the Church, and the consolation of parents.
Now let's consider how this can be achieved in today's world, and how it would be possible to provide a Christian education to children even today. Of course, by the very nature of this essay, we will focus only on the most important and essential points, but parents and educators will easily be able to add to our discussion.
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