The ignorance of a child is the cause of the weariness which he suffers, as he knows not how to occupy himself innocently; for after spending all the early part of life without any serious application, it is vain to expect that he can have any taste or relish for anything solid. Whatever is serious, appears to him dull;-whatever requires continued attention, fatigues him: the propensity to pleasure, which in youth is so strong, and the poor example of persons the same age. Who are plunged in amusements, all contribute to make him or her dread an orderly and industrious life. In their early years they want to be trusted but lack the experience and understanding necessary to undertake any share of the management of their parents’ house; yet they know not even the importance of applying themselves to it responsibly, unless their mother has taken pains to exemplify and to point out these important duties to their inattentive eyes.

            It is the home that lays the foundation of a child’s future. And though the strength of the foundation is determined by the virtues of both parents, it is a woman who holds the key to her children’s heart in the early years of childhood. She has the privilege of weaving God’s eternal truth into the daily lives of her children while they are still young and tender. A woman who is a mother, is she not greater than he that ruleth a city? Are not her children the foundations of all human life? Is it not women who attend to and support the whole domestic economy of our houses, and who decide upon what most intimately concerns mankind? A judicious woman, who is diligent and virtuous, is the soul of her family. She regulates and preserves its temporal and spiritual good. Men, who have even authority in public, cannot by their deliberation establish any effectual good, if they be not aided by women in the execution of it.

            The world is not a mere phantom; it is an assemblage of families; and who can civilize and polish them with a care more exact then women, who by their natural authority, and diligence in their houses, possess the advantage of being more careful and attentive, more industrious, and persuasive? Can men hope to gain any happiness in life, if their closest connection, which is that of marriage. Should be turned to bitterness? What will become of children, who will in the end form the human race, if their mothers spoil them in their early years? Behold, then, the duties of women, which are not less important to the public than those of men; since they have a house to regulate, a husband to render happy, and children to educate well: add also, that virtue is of no less importance to women that to men – without speaking of the good or evil they may cause to society – are they not half of the human race, especially those redeemed with the blood of Jesus Christ, and destined to eternal life?

            Besides the good that women can effect who are well educated, and the evil they occasion in the world from an education which neglects to inspire them with virtue, it is evident that a bad education in women is productive of harmful and greater evils than that of men; for the vices of men can for the most part be traced back either to the evil influence or lack of influence of their mothers. The foundation of a child’s life, is it not molded from the earliest days of (being nursed by his mother) as he listens to the music of her heart? And is it not from this same heart that he will learn virtue or vice?

Commissioned to educate the grandson of King Louis XIV and prepare him for the throne, Fenelon abandoned all modern approaches to education and followed the genius of the ancient Hebrews, Egyptians, and Greeks. Adhering to the foundational principles of virtue and a gentle approach, Fenelon influenced this incorrigible child to become an admirable prince. I have not found a more biblical approach to education and parenting.

- Mark Hanby

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Copied excerpts from the book Education of a Child by Fenelon, have been granted by permission from Lamplighter Publishing (www.lamplighter.net).

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