Editorial February 23, 1987 Issue

Parents as educators

Carolyn B. Swan

The education of children does not begin with nursery school, kindergarten, or first grade. Stressing the significance of early development and direction, a recent article comments, " . . . the mind of the child, in the very first years, even months, of life, is the crucible in which many of his deepest values are formed."^{Kathleen McAuliffe, "Making of a Mind," OMNI, October 1985, p. 62 .}

Teaching babies to recognize people and objects, to form their first words, to take their first steps, to feed and dress themselves, requires deliberate education. But whoever "mothers" a child educates that child just as certainly by example as by direct effort.

The children in our care observe us; we teach them by our thoughts and conduct as well as by our words. Small wonder that Mrs. Eddy, herself a parent and a teacher, writes in Science and Health: "A mother is the strongest educator, either for or against crime. Her thoughts form the embryo of another mortal mind, and unconsciously mould it, either after a model odious to herself or through divine influence, 'according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount.' "^{Science and Health, p. 236.}