NObility

Nobility: the quality of elevation of mind and exaltation of character or ideals or conduct





We had a teacher training on Friday. It was about creating noble people of our children. Look around at the world and the people who fill it...not much noble about it, is there? Well, you just wait. Our children and those I teach will learn all about nobility...





dignity


poise


character


integrity


honor





We discussed what we read to our children. By the end of it we laughed out loud that in the pre-school we happened to have some books that said, "I like school. School. School. School."





Our kids should read and be read to from the best in classical literature (there are a few new books that are worth reading, but it's much easier to begin with proven works).





Here's a wonderful list we came up with...(the key is not to dumb-down what they read or what is read to them. If we treat them as if they are incapable, they will be incapable. Even my young children can sit and listen to The Wizard of Oz, or Charlotte's Web, without pictures!)

For Educators/Parents:


The Healing Power of Stories


Educating the WholeHearted Child





For a bit older kids:


Jane Eyre


Sense & Sensibility (or ANY Jane Austen)


The Lonesome Gods


Laddie


Frankenstein


The Death of Ivan Ilych





Younger Kids:


A Little Princess


Little Lord Fauntleroy


Betsy Understood


The Wind in the Willows


Just David


Any Mythology


The Secret Garden





Books teach our children that there is hope after danger, bad luck, abuse, any kind of sorrow. The characters in these books have dignity, conscience, morals, class, empathy.





Too often children read and watch stories that end with kids who distrust adults, are hopelessly selfish and hateful, and the list goes on.





A mother, noticing that her boy loved to read Harry Potter books would not read any of the other books on his summer reading list. She did some research in the library and noticed that since 1960 our adolescent and children's literature have contained the same miserable material I just referenced. She wrote a book about it. It seems it's a moral dumbing-down of children. For some reason (I'm not sure anyone really knows), we started to believe that it was too hard for them to learn to take the high road, to be accountable and to have good character. so WATCH OUT!





One of our teachers even commented on how her children learned to laugh when someone belched or passed gas, from a book. She said, "No wonder we have had generations of crass little buggers!"