What if Mum found out

P.O Box 1540, Albany Western Australia 6331
Phone/Fax: (08) 98 418 418
E-mail: abl-alb@omninet.net.au

What if Your Mum Found Out?
Friends, some results of an interesting research were published in the October, 2004 issue of Psychological Science that serves to affirm the obvious. Children who have the good fortune to interact with their mothers a lot develop healthier consciences. Well, the human conscience is part of the likeness to God that is built into us by our Creator. It is an internal monitor for behaviour. It approves or disapproves our actions, gives us assurance to proceed or warns us about dangers ahead. But a person's conscience is like a thermostat. Someone has to choose its setting. In the article I mentioned above, toddlers were encouraged to imitate their mothers in such simple actions as playing tea party or tending to a stuffed animal. The researchers graded the children in terms of their readiness to imitate what they observed. Then, in subsequent sessions, they evaluated those same young children as they were enticed with prizes for games they could win only by cheating or breaking an object that had some value to them. Here is how the correlation worked: Toddlers who eagerly imitated their mothers were more likely to follow the rules and more likely to exhibit a sense of guilt when they broke something. I'm not a psychologist, so I can't offer any meaningful analysis of the experiment or how it was conducted. I'm just an ordinary man who remembers my mother's influence in my life. I'm a man who has watched his own children interact with their mother. And who cringes at some of the undisciplined behaviour I see in children who seem to feel no guilt or remorse for irresponsible things they do. Perhaps the fact that I didn't want my fourth-grade teacher, Mr. Hillman, to tell my mother about the words he heard me using on the playground that day is evidence to support what the psychologists have now measured. Maybe all of us who had mothers who invested energy in our moral and spiritual development have thought at times, "I hope my mum never finds out about this!" Friend, the key to an ethical life is to internalize norms of right and wrong that society, school, and church teach. But if there is not an external source to teach and model these norms, how can we ever internalize them? If you are a parent, Cub Scout leader, or Sunday school teacher, what you are saying is important. What you are doing is even more important. And if you are wrestling with what you regard as a tough ethical dilemma today, it might help you to think about your mother for a few minutes. Perhaps you would enjoy and benefit from reading a small book which I am making available. It is A Guide for Parents and Teachers, titled "Teaching Johnny & Julie RIGHT from WRONG". This book will help you in your search for proper rules in your life as well as the lives of those you touch. To receive your FREE copy by return mail, just write to me at: P.O. Box 1540, Albany W.A. 6331. You can also make your request by Phone/Fax: (08) 9841 8418, or by Email: abl-alb@omninet.net.au Have a great day!

What if Your Mum Found Out?

Friends, some results of an interesting research were published in the October, 2004 issue of Psychological Science that serves to affirm the obvious. Children who have the good fortune to interact with their mothers a lot develop healthier consciences.

Well, the human conscience is part of the likeness to God that is built into us by our Creator. It is an internal monitor for behaviour. It approves or disapproves our actions, gives us assurance to proceed or warns us about dangers ahead. But a person's conscience is like a thermostat. Someone has to choose its setting.

In the article I mentioned above, toddlers were encouraged to imitate their mothers in such simple actions as playing tea party or tending to a stuffed animal. The researchers graded the children in terms of their readiness to imitate what they observed. Then, in subsequent sessions, they evaluated those same young children as they were enticed with prizes for games they could win only by cheating or breaking an object that had some value to them.

Here is how the correlation worked: Toddlers who eagerly imitated their mothers were more likely to follow the rules and more likely to exhibit a sense of guilt when they broke something.

I'm not a psychologist, so I can't offer any meaningful analysis of the experiment or how it was conducted. I'm just an ordinary man who remembers my mother's influence in my life. I'm a man who has watched his own children interact with their mother. And who cringes at some of the undisciplined behaviour I see in children who seem to feel no guilt or remorse for irresponsible things they do.

Perhaps the fact that I didn't want my fourth-grade teacher, Mr. Hillman, to tell my mother about the words he heard me using on the playground that day is evidence to support what the psychologists have now measured. Maybe all of us who had mothers who invested energy in our moral and spiritual development have thought at times, "I hope my mum never finds out about this!"

Friend, the key to an ethical life is to internalize norms of right and wrong that society, school, and church teach. But if there is not an external source to teach and model these norms, how can we ever internalize them? If you are a parent, Cub Scout leader, or Sunday school teacher, what you are saying is important. What you are doing is even more important.

And if you are wrestling with what you regard as a tough ethical dilemma today, it might help you to think about your mother for a few minutes.

Perhaps you would enjoy and benefit from reading a small book which I am making available. It is A Guide for Parents and Teachers, titled "Teaching Johnny & Julie RIGHT from WRONG". This book will help you in your search for proper rules in your life as well as the lives of those you touch. To receive your FREE copy by return mail, just write to me at: P.O. Box 1540, Albany W.A. 6331. You can also make your request by Phone/Fax: (08) 9841 8418, or by Email: abl-alb@omninet.net.au

Have a great day!