Importance of Family Education

When we talk about education, the main emphasis has always been, formal schooling for the children, basically. But family education transcends the curricula formalities obtained in the four-walled schools. According to a renowned philosopher, "education is what remains after your have forgotten what you are taught in school." Family education is for both parents and children. We go to school for four years plus so as to become a professional in a field, but I don’t know how much of education we get, in order to become successful spouses and parents. Educating the children is the basic responsibility of the parents, but it should not be restricted to formal education alone. There is what I call, family education, which children must acquire under the purview of their parents. More importantly, parents should be thoroughly schooled through the life-time curriculum of family education.

The irregular proportions of physical, intellectual, and psychological development of the 21st century child in relation to their age has made it imperative for parents to wake up from their slumber. They look too huge and sound more intelligent for their age, but they are psychologically immature. The reasons are not far-fetched, firstly, the channels that stimulate their intellectual growth are devoid of social or family values. Secondly, social or family values are not been taught either at home or in the community as it used to be. Thirdly, role models in societal values are very scarce.

Parents must be proactive in understanding the rate of physical and intellectual growth of their wards so as to be able to act as and when due in shaping the perspectives of their children before it is too late. You know, it gets to a point, a dried fish will not be bendable, except you break it. When children are yet to reach independent age, some parents think they don’t have the right to talk but only live by rules and regulations. Once such a child gains an iota of freedom, he/she engages in unbridled expression, not knowing which behaviour is acceptable or not. It’s because, when the child could have revealed what he/she is "made of" and be guided at home, parents demand subservient attitudes.

You’d here rules like, "I don’t want to see any friends in this house;" "there is no going out with friends;" "no talking to the opposite sex;" "no watching of television;" and so on. The truth is, if they only live by those “thou shall not”, how would you be able to see them in action and regulate or shape their behaviour? A child must be given the freedom to express him/herself in order to grow. This brings about, proper understanding within the family. The issue of parent-child relationship should be thoroughly looked into in order to avoid disaster in the future.

Read part two…

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