As Long
As He Gets A Prize
By
Rabbi Yeshaya Weber
How to instill good values in a child. * Most parents wish to instill values and
good midos in their children. There are many ways of achieving these goals, but
most of them should be avoided. What is the proper approach? What is not good
about contests and prizes? How do we know when we’re doing it right? Read on for
answers to these and other questions.
As
parents, we have an important task: to instill values and good midos in
our children. Since every Jewish home is built on values, parents often expect a
child to absorb the atmosphere in the home and automatically internalize the
values upon which the home is based, even without direct guidance.
This
approach, however, is not ideal. For example, we extol Avrohom Avinu’s mida
of chesed. Parents see it as only natural that their child should become
a baal-chesed, too. For some reason, some parents think that speaking
about the avodas Hashem of tzaddikim is sufficient to cause the
child to internalize the concept of avodas Hashem in its ultimate form,
and to desire to attain it.
Generally speaking, it is possible to assume that people try to act in
accordance with Torah, that they desire to achieve the maximum perfection in the
fulfillment of taryag mitzvos. Parents train their children to act with
kabbalas ol, to live as Jews and to grow and continue in the way they are
taught.
But
reality is not always in line with these lofty aspirations. Parents do succeed
in instilling religious awareness in the child, so that he knows he must be
careful in everything having to do with Torah and mitzvos. However, the
maturing child begins to feel independent and begins to develop his personality
in his own way. He sifts things through and selects what he feels comfortable
with.
We may
have great dreams for our child and educate him accordingly, but the child
believes he is his own baal ha’bayis. He is convinced that he knows what
is good for him and how to handle various situations. He decides what suits him,
accepts it, and rejects or ignores what doesn’t meet his needs. In the best of
circumstances, he may not ignore it, but may treat it superficially.
Much
has been said on these topics, and every home knows its sore points. Every
family is aware of its successes and its failures.
A
significant part of successful chinuch depends on the purity and
refinement of the child and to what extent he is receptive. Parents, however,
play a very important role in fashioning a child’s personality. Parents can
adopt proper approaches to instilling those values that they think the child
ought to understand, feel, acquire, and internalize. We can build a child’s
personality through instilling values.
These
aren’t particularly complicated approaches - they are actually very simple.
Consistency plays a vital role, in that the values become deeply ingrained. When
they are rooted within, the child can develop and expand them on his own. He can
develop his personality on the basis of the principles he acquired.
What
tools do we have to instill values in children? The first tool is speech. We
speak, clarify, and convey a message through words, and expect the child to
understand what we said, believe it to be true, and act accordingly. It is true
that speech is vital. But let’s not forget to pay attention to the form and
content of what we say.
Actions also talk. When we want a child to daven properly, we should not
say, “Moishele, you should look into your siddur and daven nicely.
You have to be like the other children who are davening nicely.” This
conveys to the child the wrong reason for what we want him to do. If we tell him
this, he will take out of it that we want him to be a good boy like other good
boys. He will understand that our goal is nachas, and therefore we ask
him to do superficial acts.
He
might very well conclude that he doesn’t want to bother working hard just to be
like other good children. Who says he has to force himself to do some
superficial act that he doesn’t find important - to act as though he’s
davening just to give his parents nachas?
The
child can find lots of reasons and excuses not to listen to his parents’ request
that he daven nicely:
He has
already tried in the past but didn’t succeed.
He did
not get the kind of compliments he deserved for his efforts.
He was
disappointed and concluded the effort wasn’t worthwhile.
The
child’s approach to the issue is derived from the way it was presented to him.
We did not educate him. We did not instill in him the importance of t’filla,
and we did not explain to him what it is all about. We told him that he
should make efforts to daven properly because we want everybody to know
that he’s a good boy.
As we
said earlier, this strategy is not chinuch; it is merely the expression
of our personal desire that the child fulfill our request. Put more bluntly:
Behind the lofty request that the child behave properly hides our ego.
Our goal is for the child to provide us with nachas so we can be proud of
him, so that his behavior does not shame us.
In
order to elicit good behavior, we use contests. The children who comply with the
rules of the contest - davening nicely, in the siddur, out loud,
etc. - get points and even prizes. Credit must be given to those who run these
contests and work hard in doing so, but this technique is not enough because it
does not educate the child to appreciate the importance of t’filla. The
child davens properly because he knows he’ll get a prize. To the child
there is no difference whether he’s asked to daven nicely or to run
around the shul three times, as long as he gets a prize.
Many
people reading this will wonder and ask, “What about chanoch l’naar al pi
darko (educate a child according to his way) and mitoch she’lo lishma, ba
lishma (from doing it not for Hashem’s sake, he will come to do it for
Hashem’s sake)? Since the child will benefit by receiving a prize, won’t he
derive pleasure from the deed itself, giving him the desire to continue to
daven properly even after the contest is over?”
Even
this is still not enough to create a true connection between the child and
t’filla. The child hasn’t really internalized an awareness of the importance
of prayer; he is not drawn towards t’filla, and he doesn’t yearn to pray.
When he does pray, he doesn’t do it with feelings from the innermost
point of his heart and soul. At the end of the contest, the act remains as
external as it was at the beginning.
The
same is true when we persuade a child to learn. We tell him, “Learn well!” When
he wants to know why, we tell him that it will benefit him. Perhaps the child
will be convinced and will learn well, but it’s unlikely that the explanation
truly taught him to learn.
These
approaches might be the beginning of the chinuch-road, but there’s still
plenty to do to internalize the learning. Any explanation will encourage the
child to learn only as long as the reason applies and appears valid. When
conditions change and the reason no longer applies, then there won’t be any
serious reason for him to sit and learn.
The
same principle is true for every issue - helping in the house, honoring parents,
getting along with siblings, etc. When the child is asked to do something in
exchange for some benefit, he will weigh whether the investment is worth the
profit and will decide accordingly. With this approach you can get the child
into a certain framework of discipline, but it still isn’t enough to produce any
internalization.
There
are effective educational techniques that do shape behavior: Long-term
consistency and perseverance on the part of both parties will cause proper
behavior to become second nature. In the end, when the child grows up, he will
continue to follow the path that he was shown, and fulfill everything required
of him, without anticipating incentives in exchange. To achieve this goal, one
must be extremely consistent. The parent must know how to slowly and gradually
back away from the obligation of giving prizes. He must bring the child to the
realization that the prize is not the end - it is the means. The child must
eventually realize that the purpose of the prize is actually to develop habits,
and when habit has already become second nature, the prize is not necessary any
more.
It’s
hard for parents to be consistent to the extent that the child will actually
internalize things. Consistency is an approach that has seen some success, but
it doesn’t work for everybody, and not every family can manage it.
Our
approach must be, first of all, to change our own perspective. We have to speak
to the child - not because we expect something of him, but in order to direct
him. The discussions are not in order to see immediate results. The parent’s
goal is not to see nachas, and the child does not need to expect a prize.
The
conversation takes place because speech is a good medium to provide guidance.
You can use small tokens of encouragement like a smile, a good word, even a
candy. These are not in exchange for good behavior, and are not used to express
parental anticipation of the requested behavior. If the child changes completely
overnight and suddenly becomes an oveid Hashem, it only proves that this
behavior has nothing to do with chinuch.
How
should the child be guided? What do we mean by guided? When we let a child know
the value of a deed, that everything has value, explaining or using an analogy
suited to his understanding - that is called guiding. Children understand the
idea of values, and if it’s on their level, they can be willing to accept them.
The educator has the job of conveying, on the child’s level, the value of the
concept or behavior he wishes the child to internalize. Only then can anything
actually be internalized. You canspeak over the child’s head and request the
maximum. Even if we succeed in getting the child to do what we ask, he won’t do
it as a result of having internalized the point. This will become apparent when
the attainment disappears as fast as it came.
Guiding emphasizes the value of the concept or behavior with a brief
explanation, giving the child the sense that he can relate to the value even if
he thinks: I don’t know what it means to daven; I daven but I
don’t understand why. Still, if we can show the child what it means to daven
with feeling, he will be far more open to accepting t’filla in an
internal manner.
You
have to show the child that this feeling exists and is real. You should teach
him to describe his own feelings while davening; he felt good; he was
satisfied; he felt confident; he knows he did the right thing; he feels he is
doing what is required of him as a Jew, etc.
Naturally, each child must be spoken to on his own level. A little child can be
taught through a song on the subject, a preschooler with a skit, game, or story.
You have to find the right method of instilling in the child an understanding of
his experiences while doing the activity he is asked to do. The child should be
able to define his feelings for himself. This is step one in internalization.
Talking is a tool for directing a child. Through speech, you can give a child a
sense of satisfaction. This satisfaction grows since the child knows when he
davened properly. He knows when he did something right, important, and
worthwhile, rather than just superficial and shallow.
Instilling values demands a certain investment of our time and lots of patience.
We have to think in advance about what explanation we want to use and the exact
words we will use, but this step may not require much time - maybe only a few
minutes. Checking the results immediately is not necessary, even if the child
did not say Kriyas Shma in the best way, despite the explanation he heard
in the morning. He may not yet daven properly, but this need not be taken
to heart. Although no progress may be apparent, the parent has to keep working
at it, saying a few words to arouse the feeling he wants to arouse so that the
child appreciates the importance of the matter.
It’s
important to use various methods so that the child doesn’t feel it’s just talk.
This approach will get the child back on the desired track. He will be far more
aware of his actions, will devote more attention to the subject, and will
respect the mida more deeply. He will come to appreciate the importance
of t’filla, and will change the way he relates to it.
When
the child grows older, he can be told the meaning of certain selections and even
be encouraged to explain them himself every so often. You can also ask him to
point out a paragraph that has particular meaning for him, because despite the
fact that t’filla is verbal, it is avoda sh’b’leiv (service of the
heart). When a child can say, “When I get to this mizmor I feel happier,
but I don’t understand this other mizmor that well,” it shows he is
beginning to internalize the value of t’filla.
When a
child says that he had more kavana at a certain request in the
Sh’moneh Esrei that day because he had a particular need, that is when you
know that he is being educated to daven, and understands its value, even
if externally his davening doesn’t look enthusiastic. Even if he didn’t
daven out loud or with overt enthusiasm, or he didn’t have a look of
concentration on his face, the objective has been met. The child felt the
significance of t’filla in the depths of his heart, on his level, and we
know that he is on the road to internalization. That is our ultimate reward... |