Pious Porphyrios the Kavsokalivite
The medicine and the great secret for the children’s enhancement is humility. And trust in God confers an absolute safety. God is everything. No one can say that he is everything. This hardens selfishness. God wants to lead our children to humility. Without it neither us, nor them could do anything.
We should pay attention when we encourage our children. We shouldn’t tell the child: ”You will succeed, you are a special child, you are brave, you are perfect.” These are of no benefit for him. Tell him to pray, adding: ”My child, God gave you the gifts you have.” ’Pray so that God will give you strength to cultivate them and to succeed.” ”May God give you His grace.”
This is the best thing. In all matters children should learn to ask for help from God.
Praise harms the children. What does the Word of God say? My people, those who guide you, lead you astray. They turn you from your path.(1) The man who praises us, deceives us and turns us from our paths. How wise are the words of God!
Praise does not prepare the children for any difficulty in life, they do not adjust, they lose themselves and in the end they do not succeed in anything. Now the world became spoiled.They tell only words of praise to the small child. We should not rebuke him, we should not contradict him, we should not constrain him. And the child gets used with this and cannot react correctly anymore, not even at the slightest difficulty. If someone speaks against him, he gets annoyed immediately, he does not have any fortitude.The parents are the first ones who are responsible for the failure of their children in life and their teachers and professors follow after them.
They praise them all the time. They tell them things that increase their selfishness.They do not guide them towards the spirit of God and estrange them from the Church. When they grow a little and go to school with this selfishness, they estrange from faith and despise it, they lose their respect for God, for their parents, for all. They become disobedient, stubborn and ruthless, disobeying faith and God.
We gave to the society some egotists, not some Christians.
(1) Isaiah 3,12
