Foundation Father

You can’t let your kids live in a bubble. Eventually, it will be popped by something beyond your control and they will have to deal with the outside world. If your children need to walk around with a fainting couch, just in case they hear someone use a bad word, you have failed as a parent.

Better to introduce the outside world to them on your own terms. This takes discipline, wisdom, and patience. Not easy, but doable, as long as you don’t mind doing it imperfectly.

Being a man means doing the right thing even when you don’t feel like it. Even when you know you will suffer. 

And not complaining about it.

You should be able to have a conversation with anybody. If you think you are high above a certain class of people, or that you think thoughts too grave and mighty for the peasants, you’ll come off as an insufferable boor.

“Yes” should be your default answer whenever your children ask you to do something.

As I look back on the times I have said “yes,” I realize I have never regretted saying “yes.”

Children learn to speak to themselves based on how their parents speak to them. They are mimickers.

Their thoughts will be echoes of your own words.

There is no better environment than homeschooling to tailor the education of your children to their specific needs.

But...

There might be a reason to send your boys to public school. Eventually. This has to do with the differences in how you treat boys and girls.

We are so busy doing things for our children that we risk never stopping to recognize what they are doing for us.

They are a gift.

If you are getting angry at your children, it’s your fault. Every time. 

All of the time.

Based on Anthony Esolen's great book, Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child.

This is part 2, going over items 6-10.

Based on Anthony Esolen's great book, Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child.

This is part 1, going over items 1-5.