The Blessing of a Skinned Knee: Using Timeless Teachings to Raise Self-Reliant Children

Perhaps Jewish parents place so much importance on food because at its core Judaism is a table-centered religion.

Parents cannot and should not try to eliminate longing in a child. Instead, we must teach our children how to redirect their longings, accept “no” graciously, and appreciate the blessings they do have.

Judaism recognizes that it is possible to use food as a potent vehicle for holiness and family unity. Through the proper attitude toward food and the proper environment for eating, spiritual ideals can be transmitted into daily living.

According to Orthodox psychologist and parent educator Miriam Adahan, children need an opportunity to learn about the “wave pattern” of emotions. If parents rush in to rescue them from distress, children don’t get an opportunity to learn that they can suffer and recover on their own. TURNING

I once read a beautiful teaching attributed simply to “a modern educator.” It read: “Try to see your child as a seed that came in a packet without a label. Your job is to provide the right environment and nutrients and to pull the weeds. You can’t decide what kind of flower you’ll get or in which season it will bloom.”

fair and firm. She warns her daughter ten minutes ahead of time that they will be leaving, and she briefly acknowledges Ruby’s feelings. She lets her daughter know that she’ll answer her questions in the car, but for the moment Mother has spoken and her word is law.

Opportunities to practice derech eretz include greeting people, inviting them into our homes, and speaking about other people in a respectful way whether or not they are within earshot.

Too many parents want everything fixed by the time their child is eight. They want academic perfection, a child as capable as any other child in the Western hemisphere. Children develop in fits and starts, but nobody has time for that anymore. No late bloomers, no slow starters, nothing unusual accepted! If a child doesn’t get straight A’s, his par

Jewish wisdom holds that our children don’t belong to us. They are both a loan and a gift from God, and the gift has strings attached. Our job is to raise our children to leave us. The children’s job is to find their own path in life. If