Teaching selflessness -- an essay, and request for ideas

[ohiopiper]

I'm definately not a teacher and the few times in my life i have been called upon to instruct in certain areas in which i have expertise, my "students" were all adults and eager to learn the latest and greatest in the tactical world.

However, I now find myself in posession of two small creatures that are beginning to resemble human beings. A son and daughter, ages seven and two, to be exact.

I have approached the task of raising them from a mindset founded on principle. My daughter now and my son at her age were required to do certain small things. There was no other option. Picking up toys might take two hours, because I would stand or sit nearby, pick up a toy or two and then expect them to pick up the rest. Comprehension wasn't the issue, it was natural selfishness. A kid wants to do fun things, picking up after ones' self isn't fun. disobediance was met by punishment or reminders of the task at hand, whichever was appropriate.

Soon, forced behaivior becomes habit. When the child is old enough (like my son is now), the principle behind the behavior is explained. The principle guides the person through other similar tasks in life.

What you are seeing is, in my opinion, the same we are seeing here in the U.S. in the current Jr. High and younger kids. The behavior expected of them is minimal, the underlying principle is one of self gratification at the expense of others, or even the expense of ones' future. They are learning the lesson well. Interaction with another human being has become an option, not a requirement to function in society. Enter the ipod and smartphone into evidence.

Without principle, human beings are behaviorally no different from wild animals. I've seen it firsthand in several places around the world. The only solution, in my opinion, is to substitute what you rightly call hedonism with principles that guide them in a socially acceptable manner. Unfortunately, this conversion from delinquent behavior to civilized often requires either trauma or Divine intervention, if not taught from an early childhood. By the teen years, behavior of any sort has become so firmly entrenched that change is resisted out of both habit and the fear of having to re-evaluate and re-identify ones' self.

[Jock Scot]

I'm definately not a teacher and the few times in my life i have been called upon to instruct in certain areas in which i have expertise, my "students" were all adults and eager to learn the latest and greatest in the tactical world.

However, I now find myself in posession of two small creatures that are beginning to resemble human beings. A son and daughter, ages seven and two, to be exact.

I have approached the task of raising them from a mindset founded on principle. My daughter now and my son at her age were required to do certain small things. There was no other option. Picking up toys might take two hours, because I would stand or sit nearby, pick up a toy or two and then expect them to pick up the rest. Comprehension wasn't the issue, it was natural selfishness. A kid wants to do fun things, picking up after ones' self isn't fun. disobediance was met by punishment or reminders of the task at hand, whichever was appropriate.

Soon, forced behaivior becomes habit. When the child is old enough (like my son is now), the principle behind the behavior is explained. The principle guides the person through other similar tasks in life.

What you are seeing is, in my opinion, the same we are seeing here in the U.S. in the current Jr. High and younger kids. The behavior expected of them is minimal, the underlying principle is one of self gratification at the expense of others, or even the expense of ones' future. They are learning the lesson well. Interaction with another human being has become an option, not a requirement to function in society. Enter the ipod and smartphone into evidence.

Without principle, human beings are behaviorally no different from wild animals. I've seen it firsthand in several places around the world. The only solution, in my opinion, is to substitute what you rightly call hedonism with principles that guide them in a socially acceptable manner. Unfortunately, this conversion from delinquent behavior to civilized often requires either trauma or Divine intervention, if not taught from an early childhood. By the teen years, behavior of any sort has become so firmly entrenched that change is resisted out of both habit and the fear of having to re-evaluate and re-identify ones' self.

Gosh! I wish I was cleaver enough to have writen that! Well said.