In a heroic book titled ‘The Jewish Phenomenon’, Steven Silbiger presents powerful points on parenting with purpose. Apparently, when chances manifest like during the holiday, parents should have candid conversations with their children. They should swing swiftly into action, and play their part with clock-like precision. Being keen about well-being of children, is what as a scribe I describe as parenting with purpose. Ideally, there is no common script or textbook guide on parenting. All the same, children do not grow up like trees. Instead, it is prudent to bring them up through strict training and tutelage. For the wise man says in Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
Ipso facto, when schools are closed, parents should pick the ball where teachers have dropped it. For the philosopher Seneca said, “A teacher is a second parent, and a parent is a second teacher.” So, parents should not abdicate their integral role. Largely, it takes God, parents and teachers to raise children with the right rectitude and attitude. The joint effort is perfectly brought out in 1 Corinthians 3:6-7, where Apostle Paul of Tarsus pens, “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters are anything, but only God, who makes things grow.”
Furthermore, parents should prioritise their children, provide for their children, protect their children and pray for their children on daily basis. Largely, parents should track academic performance of their children. They should also be concerned about their talents, gifts and skills. Parents should introduce children to God, the way Lois (grizzled granny) and Eunice (mother) did to Timothy — the protégé of Apostle Paul of Tarsus (2 Timothy 1:5).
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Again, parents should check forms of entertainment children choose to enjoy. They should encourage them to gyrate or gravitate towards edutainment — educative entertainment. Movies and music must be didactic and rife with life lessons. Parents should help their progenies understand that minds obey GIGO Principle — Garbage In, Garbage Out. Input equals output. Meaning, children should not allot a lot of time on entertainment, and forget about books. Wise parents should sit down with children, and carefully-craft daily timetables that focuses on personal study, home chores and leisure time. As Sonya Carson did to her son Ben Carson, parents should encourage children to brood on good books.
Just to augment this argument. I take you back to the great text I quoted right at the onset: The Jewish Phenomenon by Steven Silbiger. That tome presents The 7 Keys to Enduring Wealth of a People. This heroic book explores why Jews in America are wise and wealthy. In one of the keys, the putative author postulates that Jews understand that real wealth is portable: It is knowledge. Therefore, at a fledgling age, Jewish parents train their children to appreciate the wonder of the written word. Jews make up only 2% of the total population of the United States. Yet, 45% of the top 40 of Forbes 400 richest Americans are Jews.
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20% of professors in Ivy League universities are Jews. 40% of partners in the leading New York and Washington D.C. law firms are Jews. 25% of all American Nobel Prize winners are Jews. One-third of the American multi-millionaires are Jews. The percentage of the Jewish household with some handsome income greater than $50,000 is double that of non-Jews.
Consequently, right from the onset, Jews become sedulous in studying Talmud and Torah and Mishna. Talmud collates books of detailed rabbinical commentary on the Bible. Tora is the collection of the first five books of the Old Testament. The Mishna houses books codifying Jewish laws for religious observance such as orison. Other holy books include: Zohar, Midrash and Kabbalah.
Lastly, in the Jewish religion, parents recognise their children in the synagogue as adults at the age of 15. Jewish parents encourage their children to value literate habits, hobbies, rituals and routines. Children watch news and read newspapers with real zeal and trenchant zest. No wonder, they stand out of the crowd, walking heads held high. Parents instruct children never to live under the shadow of other mere mortals. A classic case is Albert Einstein — a top-flight physicist, who at age 26, became the creator of the Law of Relativity that ushered in the Atomic Age, because he read popular science books in his teenage at age 16.
By Victor Ochieng’
The writer rolls out talks and training services in schools. During the holiday, he talks to students about academic strategies and career choices on Zoom platform.
vochieng.90@gmail.com. 0704420232
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