At this point, if you haven't noticed already, I’m admittedly cynical regarding chinuch “experts.”
I don’t deny their sincerity or dedication in helping children and parents.
But…
What I mean to say is that parents may love their children a lot, but may not be at all inclined to relate to them in the way the former teacher/chinuch expert relates to children—for better or for worse.
(Also, conversely, good teachers are sometimes terrible parents.)
I don’t deny their sincerity or dedication in helping children and parents.
But…
- Many of them are stuck on one kind of idea and can’t see around it.
- Too many of them base their methods on Western psychology: shooting the arrow of psychology first and then later drawing a Torah bull’s eye around its tip.
- Many of them have their method, their way of doing things and seeing things, and they can’t see beyond that.
- Furthermore, many have been teachers (meaning that they obviously enjoy spending LOTS of time disciplining & interacting with children) and some don’t seem to understand that other people would never voluntarily spend their days in a room full of 20 third-graders or 30 ninth-graders.
What I mean to say is that parents may love their children a lot, but may not be at all inclined to relate to them in the way the former teacher/chinuch expert relates to children—for better or for worse.
(Also, conversely, good teachers are sometimes terrible parents.)
A Tale of Two Families
I also can’t help noticing that many chinuch people utilize methods that indulge their particular personality.
If they’re high-energy multi-taskers, then the method calls on you to be a high-energy multi-tasker. If they tend to be emotionally detached, then the method calls on you to be emotionally detached.
How convenient!
Furthermore, the personality of the husband is never taken into account in any serious way.
The father and how he relates to both his wife and children proves an undeniable impact on the home, for better or for worse. In this respect, mothers who attend chinuch classes are often related to as if they’re single mothers.
But most of all, one family is way too different from another to successfully follow one kind of shitah.
Please see the following real-life examples for why:
Example #1: The Serene & Lovely Family
I used to love watching a mother and her three little girls walking down the street.
They all wore flowing summer dresses (including the gracefully pregnant young mother) and matching straw hats.
The little girls were so well-behaved, the mother didn’t need to hold their hands (except for the youngest) as they glided along the sidewalk (unlike me, who practically needed to chain my boys to myself to prevent them from darting into the path of oncoming cars).
The young mother emanated a naturally serene personality. The young father was a kind and loving husband, and they owned their own apartment and could afford all the necessary household help.
Example #2: The Bursting-at-the-Seams Family
Within the same neighborhood lived another family with 5 kids.
This family consisted of a gang of 3 boys and a girl who were all energetic, adventuresome, fearless, diagnosed with ADHD, and were great friends who helped each other into and out of many scrapes.
At the tail end of the family was the kind of highly sensitive emotionally intense little girl whom many parents find even more difficult to deal with than a hyperactive child.
Due to poor finances, the family lived in an apartment that was too small.
The father thought his children (except for one) were just awful and consequently had no patience for them, blaming his overwhelmed wife for many of the problems.
In addition to the in-home struggles, the mother also had to deal with routine phone calls from the school complaining of the boys’ disruptive behavior and from other parents who did not want her son to play with their son anymore.
If they’re high-energy multi-taskers, then the method calls on you to be a high-energy multi-tasker. If they tend to be emotionally detached, then the method calls on you to be emotionally detached.
How convenient!
Furthermore, the personality of the husband is never taken into account in any serious way.
The father and how he relates to both his wife and children proves an undeniable impact on the home, for better or for worse. In this respect, mothers who attend chinuch classes are often related to as if they’re single mothers.
But most of all, one family is way too different from another to successfully follow one kind of shitah.
Please see the following real-life examples for why:
Example #1: The Serene & Lovely Family
I used to love watching a mother and her three little girls walking down the street.
They all wore flowing summer dresses (including the gracefully pregnant young mother) and matching straw hats.
The little girls were so well-behaved, the mother didn’t need to hold their hands (except for the youngest) as they glided along the sidewalk (unlike me, who practically needed to chain my boys to myself to prevent them from darting into the path of oncoming cars).
The young mother emanated a naturally serene personality. The young father was a kind and loving husband, and they owned their own apartment and could afford all the necessary household help.
Example #2: The Bursting-at-the-Seams Family
Within the same neighborhood lived another family with 5 kids.
This family consisted of a gang of 3 boys and a girl who were all energetic, adventuresome, fearless, diagnosed with ADHD, and were great friends who helped each other into and out of many scrapes.
At the tail end of the family was the kind of highly sensitive emotionally intense little girl whom many parents find even more difficult to deal with than a hyperactive child.
Due to poor finances, the family lived in an apartment that was too small.
The father thought his children (except for one) were just awful and consequently had no patience for them, blaming his overwhelmed wife for many of the problems.
In addition to the in-home struggles, the mother also had to deal with routine phone calls from the school complaining of the boys’ disruptive behavior and from other parents who did not want her son to play with their son anymore.
Does any rational person really think that you can give over to each of these mothers the same advice & same method, and expect it all to work?
Yet you’ll have these two types of mothers sitting in the same chinuch class, listening to the same advice and receiving the same guidance.
That's not sensible.
And yes, I fully realize that chinuch people do acknowledge that there are very different situations and personalities, and that raising boys is different than raising girls (I’m not talking easier or harder; that goes according to individual—but it is different), and so on.
But tachlis? Many of those running a chinuch class have a very hard time practically applying this knowledge.
Ultimately, the point is that when people tell you that they highly recommend a chinuch method, you really need to question it.
Yet you’ll have these two types of mothers sitting in the same chinuch class, listening to the same advice and receiving the same guidance.
That's not sensible.
And yes, I fully realize that chinuch people do acknowledge that there are very different situations and personalities, and that raising boys is different than raising girls (I’m not talking easier or harder; that goes according to individual—but it is different), and so on.
But tachlis? Many of those running a chinuch class have a very hard time practically applying this knowledge.
Ultimately, the point is that when people tell you that they highly recommend a chinuch method, you really need to question it.
Questions to Ask Regarding Any Chinuch Method
(Note: These questions are mostly for yourself. I don't think people should go around whacking other people over the head, so I don't recommend that you directly ask people these questions. Many chinuch instructors and advisers either aren’t aware of the real history behind their methods or cling to certain methods and ideas for unconscious and personal reasons. As a result, they’ll find some of these questions threatening rather than enlightening, and will likely just feel attacked.)
Be alert if the answer is that you need to actually sign up and attend months of classes to find out because it’s just not explainable in a nutshell.
Bogus.
For example, I can say that Rav Arush’s method is basically to use the child’s problematic behavior as message from Hashem regarding what you need to work on in yourself. There’s a lot more to it than that—please read the book!—but that’s it in a nutshell.
I can also state that I use this method constantly — and used it with some seriously thorny problems — and that it works.
Did the approving rav sit down and thoroughly review the method?
- What is the exact philosophy of this method?
- Where did it come from?
- What is the method in a nutshell?
Be alert if the answer is that you need to actually sign up and attend months of classes to find out because it’s just not explainable in a nutshell.
Bogus.
For example, I can say that Rav Arush’s method is basically to use the child’s problematic behavior as message from Hashem regarding what you need to work on in yourself. There’s a lot more to it than that—please read the book!—but that’s it in a nutshell.
I can also state that I use this method constantly — and used it with some seriously thorny problems — and that it works.
- Who says this is the authentic Torah view?
Did the approving rav sit down and thoroughly review the method?
- Who is the person behind the method? How old are they and where are they from? How did they come up with this shitah?
- What sources can they point to show that their method is based on Torah?
- (If there are claims that this is the Torah method used "pa'am"): If this is the authentic & most highly effective Torah method used by all Jews “pa’am,” then why did it not prevent the vast majority of Jews from becoming Communists, Reform Jews, or secular Leftists?
- What do you consider the father’s role in all this?
Because so many people really do feel the need for a chinuch class and some guidance outside themselves and their own talks with Hashem, I'll be posting on what a chinuch class based on authentic Torah sources might actually look like.
You can see it here:
You can see it here:
RSS Feed