RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22296, 23 June 1934, Page 23

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

By AMPUCJS. A LITANY OF THANKSGIVING. For common joys which all men share, The sunrise sky-sweet breath of air, For beauty always, everywhere, We thank Thee, Lord. For love of friends that never fails, For mother love that never quails, For love that grows as life light pales We thank Thee, Lord. For children’s laughter ringing clear. For buoyant youth that knows no fear; Rich joys of sense that all hold dear, We thank Thee, Lord. Thankful for all, we thirst for Thee; Pour out Thy gifts both full and free That in, them all our eyes may see Thyself, 0 Lord. -Edith A. Talbot. YOUTH WORKERS’ INSTITUTE. The attention of readers is drawn to the advertisement of the Youth Workers’ Institute, appearing elsewhere in this issue. Every church worker, whether with children, young people, or adults should not miss this opportunity of meeting together for information, instruction, and fellowship. The meetings will continue for three niehts. Dr Hunter taking lectures in “ Phopligcy,” “ Jeremiah,” and “ Revelation,” followed by the considei'ation of such subjects ns “Christian Education in the Church To-day,” “How To Study the Bible.” and “ Memory Work in the Sunday School, and How to Carry it out.” Sectional meetings for all departments of the Sunday school and Bible class are also held. A feature will be the book stall, where, a number of helpful books, poster material, etc., will he displayed. TRAINING PAREiNTS. - Pricking the conscience of.its parents is one ol the important duties ot every baby. The coming ot the hist child awakens a sense ot deep humility in the hearts of most fathers and mothers. We cherish high , hopes tor our oiispnng, but all the while we are haunted by the question: ‘‘ How shall we raise it? " FTVst comes the question of how to feed it and keep it. growing. Rare are the parents who fail to do some honest praying tjie first night they are left alone with their child. But after the mother has learned the trick of tending the baby, and the father has discovered some ways in which he can help, there remains the puzzle: “How shall we train our child? ” This is indeed a most baffling problem. ,With all due respect to the sincerity and devotion of our parents, most of us feel that our up-bringing could have been improved in several particulars. Possibly wq were so frightened as children that we still suffer from an inferiority complex. Rarely were our energies afforded sufficient outlets of the proper sort. The most common human ambition is to give our children a better training than we received ourselves. But how shall we do it?

One cannot get very far with the education of even the smallest babe without encountering a succession of moral questions.* Before it gets to be a year bid, a youngster will have tested out the ethical theories of its parents, and will already be familiar with their weak spots. Nobody discovers sooner than a baby whether his parents are creatures of whim and caprice, or if they are controlled by consistent moral principles. Parenthood probes the stuff of which we are made. , The perplexity of the young father and mother constitutes an opportunity for the Church. Behind the request for infant baptism there often lies a groping for divine help in the task of Christian parenthood. The sense of need which comes to all parents, whether they have been reared in the tradition of infant baptism or not, turns their faces toward God and the Church. I Parenthood promotes the habit of sincere prayer. It so happens that in the city of Cloveland this problem of training parents has beeq approached by a number of churches in a variety of ways, and the suggestions are given here, as they might prove uelpful to churches wishing to try and meet this problem in their own local situation. Perhaps the simplest form of parental education was that which sprang up in a church school in an industrial neighbour? hood. A number of mothers happened to start their children in the beginners’ department, at the same time. First they sat around and watched the little folk, and then they resolved themselves into a class of their own. Because there was no one else available the wife of the minister became their teacher. These young women had not come to Sunday school to study the Bible, but tcubring their children, and the ordinary type of lesson material awakened only the _ mildest interest. The teacher then tried talks on child training, and immediately the attention of the women was aroused, for naturally their children were the major interest of these women. The group grew and prospered, and it was decided to go into the matter more deeply at a weeknight session, conducted by a trained Idndergartner. The direct result was that a number of mothers with good intentions ' but no great amount of training gained a new conception of their task. Indirectly, the class proved to be quite an evangelistic agency. The church met a real need in the lives of these women, and the result was that they joined the church and became active in its work.

The same puoblem was approached in exactly the opposite way by a large, wellestablished church in a central position. Many young people had grown up in its Sunday school, married, and then disappeared upon the advent of the first baby. The problem was how to hold these young people for the Church. First a eenes of week-night meetings was held. It soon developed that many people were interested in the training of children. The following year a class was organised to meet in connection with the church school. This group was composed of men and women in almost equal numbers. At first it called itself “The Couples Club," then, as widows were added to the membership, the name changed to “ The Triangle Club,” the child being the third point in the diagram. One of the ing. features was that in a number of instances the father and mother rook turns coming to the class while the other members of the partnership stayed at home to tend the baby! A group ot considerable size developed, composed tor the most part of inactive church members —people who made the excuse of the children to care for as a legitimate excuse to take a holiday from church. After a year of parental education the class decided to take up other topics_ so as to make x’oom for other young married people who did not have a baby to discuss. Still another church handled the task of training parents in a different from the two previous examples. Some years ago a series of prayer meetings at which “family problems ” were discussed attracted an astonishing attendance. Another year this was followed by six meetings devoted to “ parental education," which also seemed to strike fire. This church co-operated with, a group in the city giving this instruction, making a scanty attended meeting into a successfuj one, with an enrolment of 50, some 05 of whom came from this one church. The possibilities of parental education as a point of contact with the community are great and where this has been honestly tried, has resulted in an increased interest in the church on the part of these young parents. The problems of parents are quite acute in this present clay. When the Church touches upon them in a helpful way it meets with an almost immediate response Parental training affords an excellent point of contact both with and with ambitious men and women. There are in the Church many women and some men who are qualified to give such instruction. The thing is to have faith to venture out to meet the needs of those who are anxious to do the best for their children.—J. R. Scotford.