Christianity for Modern Pagans, ch. 7: Vanity of Human Reason.

Pascal: ” . . . we require the aid of good habits to overcome bad habitual tendencies in the opposite direction. Therefore, we must act as if we believed, go to church, and so forth, thus habituating the automaton to obey what reason has discovered to be true.”

At least half of parenting and educating children is the development of good habits. As I understand it, Charlotte Mason discusses this aspect of education in her books.

Of course, one can develop a “foolish consistency,” but there is much to be said for doing things out of habit after having developed a conviction that those things indeed ought to be done and don consistently. Some fairly simple habits that I would like to instill in myself and my children:

1. To flush the toilet after each and every use thereof. Does anyone else have this problem? The problem of NOT seeing this done consistently, that is. And of course, Mr. Nobody is always the culprit.

2. Go to church on Sundays. I believe regular worship with a group of Christians is an important Christian discipline.

3. Get up in the morning and get dressed. My children get tired of hearing about how great it is that as homeschoolers they can do school in their pajamas. Unfortunately, they often play into that stereotype by . . . doing school in their pajamas.

4. Brush their teeth without being reminded. We’ve been working on this one for quite a while, and they still need reminders.

5. Tell the truth. I’d like it if they did this habitually without thinking about it.

6. Obey authority. Yes, there are times when a given authority is wrong, but I would rather their first impulse be to obey. Then, they can think about the possibility that the person in authority might have been mistaken or sinful and act accordingly.

7. Look for beauty and joy. This is a habit I need desperately to develop and to model.

8. Speak kindly. Again, if only I could model this one all the time.

9. Put away things when you’re done with them. The clutter, and resultant work, in our house could be cut probably ninety percent if only we would all put things away when we’re done using them.

10. Work first, then play.

11. Read the Bible and pray daily.

Of course, there may be times when the practice of each of these habits will be either impossible or inadvisable. But I would rather the habit be established, and then the mature person can choose to deviate from it for a reason.

Some habits my children are learning inadvertently:

1. Spend the day in your night clothes unless you have to go somewhere.

2. Obey when and if Mom says it a third time and gets THAT tone in her voice.

3. Do your work as soon as you’re reminded to do so.

4. Undress and leave your clothes on the floor.

5. Do as little schoolwork as possible to get by, and when the cat’s away . . . play!

YIkes! How do I replace the second list with a bette set of habits? How do the items on the first list become ingrained habits?

I think “hard work” is at least part of the answer to both questions.