EDFD MATTER: Home and values/character education

Having a certain goal is an important component of a sound parental or home education for very young children, especially those aged 0 up to age before entering preschool. But parents have different goals in mind when they teach their children something. It's therefore difficult, granting that it's  possible, to think of common or shared strategies to secure the educational needs of children, particularly in the home situation.  

This question is probably helpful: Is there anything that parents could agree on as a higher goal of parental education? I’d been thinking about this problem for a long time. And I believe that most, if not all, parents could agree that home education should be aimed at helping the child become a better person than his/her parents and many other excellent models of good character in his/her community. Improvement of the race, yes, that’s what I have in mind. But, of course, the point carries with it a number of difficult questions. Some of which are: (1) What character (i.e., good qualities) should parents develop in their child or children? (2) Who will count as good character models? (3) And how should parents administer character education? Knowing and validating one's own philosophy of parental education is necessary to ground the goals of educational parenting in a stable foundation. Philosophy here refers to the parents' system of fundamental conceptions about parental education. At the center of the parents' philosophy is their basic notion of the goals of parental education. 

I see goal as an essential element of strategy. We devise strategies to accomplish a goal. Parents ask: How can we help our child develop into a better person than we are? Here are two general strategies that may lead to the attainment of the higher goal in view: (1) send the child to school; and (2) give the child a strong parental education. Right now, I’m interested in the second strategy: give the child a strong parental education. These strategy could be sub-divided into more specific strategies. The purpose of the break down is to  provide the child with the ability to advance his/her learning in different areas, and to enable him/her to adjust according to complex and changing demands of his/her environment. So, here are some of those strategies.

The parents should: 

1. help the child develop his/her cognitive faculty
2. teach effective use of language
3. facilitate the development their child’s creativity
4. teach productive values, attitudes, and habits
5. help their child develop the ability to control his/her emotions and adapt in social situations
6. teach their child self-help skills
7. help the child develop his/her gross and fine motor skills
8. ensure good physical health

There are good reasons to believe that these strategies are generally honored for various time-tested reasons.

But what exactly should we teach as parents? And why, again, should we teach them? I hope soon I could find time to address these more specific issues.