Do Not Wait Until School

Is there some way you can help your children to learn more in school and have fewer problems while there? A 20-year study of children from poorly educated or disadvantaged families shows that some type of preschool training may be the answer.

The study, started in 1962, followed the development of 123 children from the time they were three or four years of age. By the time they were 15, it was found that those who had preschool education were more than one full grade ahead of the others in reading, math and language skills. More importantly, perhaps, they were less antisocial and less prone to manifest delinquent behavior. By then, 51 percent of their parents felt satisfied with their achievement in school, while only 28 percent of the other children’s parents felt that way.

Many parents who are Jehovah’s Witnesses have taken the time and interest to teach their preschool children by the use of simple Bible publications, and this has had good results. In doing so, they are following the Bible’s recommendation that parents teach and train their children at home, and “from infancy.” (Deuteronomy 6:6, 7; 2 Timothy 3:14, 15) In this way, parents may be able to compensate for some of the apparent lack in today’s educational system.