“English grammar as a cure?”
“Daddy, Me and Tara want to go with you to the gas station!”
Just a minute, Dad! Before you answer that request…”
“Did you notice that your daughter mentioned herself first? Are you going to let her get away with that?”
“Oh Cal,” you retort, “don’t be so anal. It’s not a big deal.”
“Well, Dad. It may not seem like a big deal to you right now. But didn’t I hear you complaining just yesterday about her being so self-centered?”
As formality gives way to more relaxed lifestyles, attention to the rules of grammar have faded too -- to our collective hurt.
While correcting our children’s speech is often overlooked, we actually hurt their character development in some important ways.
- First, the practice of mentioning the other person first is a kind of buffer against a child’s natural ‘me first’ attitude.
- Second, it encourages an inner discipline of respect that helps in their relationships with others.
- It also returns as respect from others as they relate to your children. Surely you want that for your kids.
So, if saying “…Tara and I…” is so important to the balanced development of character, why don’t we pay more attention to it?
There are lots of reasons -- fear of offending, ignorance (i.e., not knowing the rules) and pure laziness. However...
- Instead, fear raising a child who grows up with that repulsive ‘all about me’ attitude front and center!
- If you can read, you have been taught some basic rules of English grammar. You have just failed to see their importance in relation to character development.
- Let us be careful to avoid passing on laziness to our children. Rather, let us be pro-active in helping them develop into caring, disciplined humans.
Now we have come to the end of our series of remedies for the ‘all about me’ attitude that comes so naturally with being human. Our hope is that these articles will encourage you to guide your children to think and live beyond themselves, not by force, but as a natural lifestyle.
