Essential Questions

It is often said that parents are a child's first teacher, and this is certainly true. But what does it mean? Does it mean simply that they are the ones who communicate information about the world to their children? It cannot mean less than that; but can it mean more?

What do parents make possible?
Parents have the remarkable responsibility and privilege of setting what Andy Crouch calls the "horizons of possibility" for their children. By the way we act, and those activities that we choose and exclude, we make things possible for our children. For example, for a child growing up in the Rockies, whose parents love skiing, it will be possible to learn to ski at a very young age. For another child who lives in the plains, and doesn't have occasion to travel to the mountains, this is not within the horizon of possibility - but learning to herd cattle by age 10 may be.

What can any parent make possible?
One could easily make an extensive list of the impossibilities that parents may face: for their children to be world-travelers, or learn three languages at home, etc. These are possibilities for a very select few. But what can any parent do to set the horizons of possibility for their children?

1. Curiosity. Regardless of where one lives, and what one has (or does not have), parents can cultivate curiosity in their children through persistent, honest, eager questioning. The disposition of curiosity that is foundational to creative expression and scientific inquiry grow in the fertile soil of family life, wherever that family may be rooted.
2. Integrity. Like curiosity, integrity can be within the horizon of possibility for any child, and not merely or the "privileged." In fact, it might well and powerfully be argued that to grow up in a family that treasures, cultivates and celebrates integrity is a far greater privilege than growing up in material wealth.
3. Discipline. Parents, by their expectations and actions, can teach the discipline by which children learn to persevere in a task - whether that task is learning, or making a bed. This quality, nurtured in the home, profoundly influences a child's perseverance in learning, and his attitude toward work.

Asking the right questions
The question for parents then, is not what we do or don't have, but what we choose to make possible for our children. These daily choices define the horizons of possibility for our children. What can you make possible for your children?