The Challenge of Child Training Today

IN THE late evening, a restaurant owner prepares to close up shop and go home. Then two women and a child enter and order a meal. Being very tired, the owner is tempted to tell them that the restaurant is closed, but he decides to serve them. While the two women talk and eat, the child runs around in the restaurant, dropping cookies on the floor and crushing them underfoot. Instead of restraining him, the child’s mother smiles. When the diners finally leave, the exhausted owner has to clean up the mess.

As you likely know, this real-life situation illustrates that in many families, child training is not going well. The reasons vary. Some parents permissively leave their children to their own devices, thinking that children should be raised in a spirit of freedom. Or because their lives are so busy, parents may not take the time to give their children careful attention and needed training. Some parents feel that their child’s schooling is the most important thing, so they give the child almost unlimited freedom as long as he gets good grades in school and gets into a prestigious college.

Yet, some say that the values of parents and society in general need to be adjusted. They argue that children are becoming involved in crimes of every kind and school violence is escalating day by day. Hence, a principal of a middle school in Seoul, Republic of Korea, emphasized that personality training should have priority. He said: “After you build a fine character comes the input of knowledge.”

Many parents who want their child to enter college and succeed in life turn a deaf ear to cautionary voices. If you are a parent, what kind of person do you want your child to be? An adult with a sense of morality and responsibility? Someone who is considerate of others, who is adaptable, and who has a positive spirit? If so, please consider the following article.