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In his talk about children as the promise of our future, Mr Stephen Hall referenced the following quotation from the renown educator Vasily Sukhomlinsky:
Here in the midst of nature, the thought that we teachers are dealing with the most sensitive, most delicate, most miraculous, which exists within nature–the mind of the child–came to me with especial clarity. When one thinks of the mind of the child, one must imagine a tender rose with beads of dew shivering upon it. What care and sensitivity are needed to pick the flower without shaking off the dew drops.
The metaphor of those dew drops is difficult to forget as I reflect on our role to nurture the unique innate qualities found in each and every child for we know that we are all endowed with a “mine rich in gems of inestimable value.”
The Universal House of Justice has told us that
Children are the most precious treasure a community can possess, for in them are the promise and guarantee of the future. They bear the seeds of the character of future society which is largely shaped by what the adults constituting the community do or fail to do with respect to children.
I’ve been thinking a lot about inclusivity when it comes to our shared responsibility for all the children in our communities. It has been wonderful to learn how to sign and sing two prayers in Australian Sign Language and to see the sweet faces of children, in all their diverse personalities, sing along and share these sacred words in another language.
I’ve also been thinking about inclusivity not only in terms of making sure we are thinking about every child, but also inclusivity in terms of an understanding that every single one of us plays a part in the lives of children. It’s not only the role of parents, caregivers and children’s class teachers–but I believe everyone is responsible for the spiritual education of children. And in this regard, the story of Effie Baker’s life comes to mind and how her love of science and technology and her artistic skills were really fostered by her whole extended family and then, her spiritual parents, brothers and sisters. The capabilities–these dew drops–resulted in priceless photographs of holy places and historical objects that are included in Shoghi Effendi’s English translation of The Dawn-Breakers.
In addition to publishing content about or for children, this last month on Baha’i Blog we covered all aspects of the cycle of human life! We got an exciting glimpse of a junior youth camp in Gold Coast learning about the habits of an orderly mind and we saw the radiant faces of its youth animators (this video was originally published over on Horizons). We also featured a new podcast called That Married Couple. It’s hosted by Nava Revalk and Kian Jones and it’s a Baha’i-inspired show about marriage and relationships. Lastly, we featured a tribute to Sarah Farmer. Bahiyyih Randall Winckler penned the biography of Sarah Farmer, but it was never published–until now. It is profound to see this book printed posthumously and to spotlight Anne Perry’s dedicated efforts to bring Bahiyyih’s words into the hands of readers. What a legacy!
We’re endeavouring to keep learning at Baha’i Blog and one project we’re experimenting with is our special collections where we bring together all manner of resources (videos, articles, images, songs and more) on a specific theme together. We’ve had collections dedicated to parents, caregivers and children’s class teachers and another specifically about junior youth for a while but we also recently launched a collection all about marriage and the process of choosing a spouse. Our collections dedicated to holy days have been frequently visited but we hope these ones are helpful too!
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Have a wonderful month of Perfection!
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