Ok sure, we teach by example. We have to model what we say… that goes without saying.
But when it comes to ‘saying,’ what’s the best way to teach our kids? It’s not with lectures. It’s not with facts and figures. It’s the way Jesus and Lincoln and all our ancestors did it: through stories.
“Consider that for nine-tenths of all the time that anything like humans existed on this planet,” the great David McCullough writes in his amazing little book, History Matters (copies available here), “all of their information, all they knew about who they were and how to survive, came to them through stories passed down generation after generation.”
If we want our kids to hear what we have to say, if we want to pass along real wisdom, it’s got to come via stories. They need literature. They need to know the myths. They need to know the riveting moments of human history. They need to be told about the painful mistakes, the classic pitfalls, the transcendent (if fleeting) moments of beauty and greatness. And they need our stories, too. The things that happened to us, what we did, what we learned, who we were, how it helped us become who we are.
This is the oldest way to teach…and in a sense, the only way to teach.
P.S. If you’re looking for stories that your children will not only enjoy, but learn from as well, we have two illustrated fables based on the lives of the Stoics.
Today marks the 4-year Anniversary of The Girl Who Would Be Free, a fable about a young girl born into the harshest life possible, but, through the power of philosophy, liberates herself from slavery and frees the minds of millions of people in the centuries that follow (much like Epictetus).
The Boy Who Would Be King is about the journey of a young boy who was chosen as the next emperor. By training himself through philosophy, he would go on to become one of the wisest and virtuous leaders in history (much like Marcus Aurelius).
Grab both at the Daily Dad Store today! Signed copies available.
