Wisdom and Logic and Imagination

The acute awareness of aging children seems to hit home a lot recently. Probably because the obvious deduction is that means I also am aging, but that's beside the point. As my children get older I am finding that my parental obligation goes well beyond teaching them classic 'right and wrong'. As a parent, it is my Divine duty to teach my children how to think, and thus how to choose. I confess that the realities of this are hard because it requires that I expose them to things that I'm personally not crazy about exposing them to. Obviously this exposure is tempered with wisdom and Biblical guidance and a desire to keep purity of heart and mind at a premium. However, our number one goal in parenting is not to shelter our children from the painful and hurtful things that the world will throw at them. I would have to say that my parental goal is to teach my children Biblical wisdom. This will involve guided exposure to pain and to the reality of suffering humanity and the issues that people really face - and that they may very well face. This guided exposure is something that I have found not only to be important, but to be critical in their training process. The end of which is that they begin to learn to make their own decisions. I believe this is particularly important for those of us who home school our children. We must be careful that our motivation for Home schooling not be out of a desire to shelter, but out of a desire to actually teach wisdom.

Logic. Wisdom. Imagination. Education comes to that point. I love the scene in C.S. Lewis' "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" in which the professor opens up the possibility of an imaginative world beyond the wardrobe door through the use of logic. He, in fact, is dealing with the Pevensie children's lack of imagination and scorn of their sister through the use of logic.

"Logic!" said the Professor half to himself. "Why don't they teach logic at these schools? There are only three possibilities. Either your sister is telling lies, or she is mad, or she is telling the truth. You know she doesn't tell lies and it is obvious that she is not mad. For the moment then and unless any further evidence turns up, we must assume that she is telling the truth."
Cited from 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'

Ever since my son started attending the Wednesday night Bible study for the neighborhood youth (open to all youth) at the church, I must confess that we've had some interesting conversations in our home about 'cussing' and terrorism and rap music and God. He's learning the logic of imagination and wisdom. Are there dangers of 'bad habits' or undesirable characteristics? I suppose there are. However, the bottom line is that my son and daughter (with my help and instruction!) will learn to think and choose for themselves what it means to discern and what is healthy and what is right - and what is not. If I fail to teach them critical thinking; logic; wisdom; imagination, then in my view (and I believe from a Biblical perspective) I fail them as their father.