Do you remember what it was like to be age 7, or 4, or 13?
Sometimes adults think that they have to fill the young person's mind with
knowledge.
But, in fact, the best teachers are more like farmers than
watchmakers--they coax the little seed, set an ideal environment, and let the
young person grow.
We don't make children
into adults, we help them.
Inspiring
is so much more powerful than requiring.
It is also more challenging, but it is
worth it.
At seven, when I go to bed
I find such pictures in my head:
Castles with dragons prowling
round,
Gardens where magic fruits are found;
Fair ladies prisoned in a tower,
Or lost in an enchanted bower;
While gallant horsemen ride by
streams
That border on this land of dreams
I find, so clearly in my head
At seven, when I go to bed.
--A Child's Thought, by Robert Louis Stevenson
The word "seven" probably refers to 7:00 p.m.
When was the last time you got the kids
to bed this early?
In modern times we too seldom pay enough attention to
helping our children and youth get to sleep early enough.
But we can also read
"seven" as the child's age.
Both meanings have a lot to teach us.
Do you remember what it was like to be seven years old? Or
3?
Or 15?
In those days, what did you want most in the world?
And what do your
own children most want right now?
~Oliver DeMille, TJEd.org 
