The Search for Parents Are Peacemakers
A few years ago, I began doing research to write a talk on “peace”. During that time, I was reading a favorite book, For the Family’s Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay. Imagine my surprise and delight when I came across her mention of a pamphlet put out by Mason’s Parents’ National Educational Union (PNEU) titled, Parents Are Peacemakers! I searched high and low but could not find it anywhere. Finally, Dr. John Thorley helped me out by scouring the Charlotte Mason archives and finding in an uncatalogued box at the Armitt Museum this little gem of parenting advice!
Parents Are Peacemakers, Six Talks with Parents on Bringing Up Children is by the Charlotte Mason biographer, Essex Cholmondeley (The Story of Charlotte Mason). Written in 1944, its purpose was to introduce parents to the PNEU and the philosophy that shaped it. I think it offers practical help and examples for those wanting more advice on bringing up children in a Charlotte Mason paradigm. While she wrote it 20 years after Charlotte’s death, it rings loud and clear of her philosophy.
Do you notice that in a really happy home they all get attention? Not all at once, all the time, but each need gets answered, some time, in some way.
–Parents Are Peacemakers, “Making Peace at Home”
How To Read Parents Are Peacemakers
Yes, it’s true that you can purchase a beautiful hard copy from Riverbend Press. You can also piece it together from my seven separate blog posts where I published it in installments. But now, for the first time, I am making it available in a single pdf for your convenience. Just sign up in the sidebar (where it says “Free Charlotte Mason Parenting Guide”) for my newsletter, Nancy’s Notes, and you can have it for free in one nice, neat package.
I’ve heard about people reading it on their own, in book discussion groups, couples’ parenting groups, and Sunday Schools. I would love to hear about how you plan to use it.
We are in need and we feel a desire, we want something deeply, passionately – affection, notice, a friend, quiet, whatever it may be. Our needs are the ground of our human nature from which our thoughts, hopes, fears and joys grow up. Children are especially needy people. This is why Fathers and Mothers must be peacemakers, must give loving thought and care in order that the children may have their four great needs supplied – Leadership, Healing, Feeding, and Teaching.
–Parents Are Peacemakers, “Making Peace at Home”
Charlotte Mason’s six volumes are full of parenting help and guidance. This pamphlet takes those principles and applies it in practical ways through the four needs of every child: leadership, healing, feeding, and teaching. The final section is a unique and thoughtful essay on “Christ’s Way of Peace”.
I hope you enjoy this little gift from me to you and that the sage advice found in it helps you to become a peacemaker in your home.
Teaching from Peace,
Nancy
Sign up for your copy in the sidebar where it says, “Free Charlotte Mason Parenting Guide”!
Your thoughts?