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THEME: A VEHICLE OF CULTURE AND VALUES

1. Children up to six years of age

To parents and teachers

I. YOUR CHILD NEEDS:

* Serenity:

Evangelization has its supreme success in the moment of joy.

* Peace:

Every child is "...a PERSON; his nature is endowed with intelligence and free will. By virtue of this he has rights and duties of his own, flowing directly and simultaneously from his very nature, which are therefore universal, inviolable and inalienable..." (Pacem in Terris)

...this is the starting point for an education for peace, which can only be achieved if adults are mindful of their duties and children enjoy their rights.

* Affection:

It is always the "couple", father and mother, that provides the sense of life and love that leads to joy.

* Beauty, truth, etc.:

The true values are "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, fidelity, gentleness and selfcontrol"(Gal.5, 22-23). The child needs the experience of love, joy, forgiveness, sincerity, trust in others, little acts of kindness, respect for other people's property, obedience.

* To discover the spiritual and the supernatural dimension.

It is from the parents' attitude and their way of living their love for each other that children are led to discover the sense of God-as-Love, of trust in Him, of His Fatherhood...

--The child's world is rich with images, perceptions, the feeling of hidden powers slowly being revealed..., a sense of wonder before nature, before humankind...

--It takes just a glance, a smile, a voice, a song, for the child to communicate with the world.

--The message that we transmit to children today will lay the basis of their future response to education and of their future attitude towards themselves, towards their neighbour and towards God.

--Their first moments of wonder, their first excited admiration for things, people, animals, are their first steps towards the presence of God. It is essential, in this delicate stage of their lives, to ensure that our children are truly free to make their own choices.

II. THEREFORE:

--if it is now, while children are still incapable of judging and distinguishing, that the foundations are being laid for the development of their personality...

--of their life of faith and love...

--and if we know that images can act on them with all their hidden power...

We educators must ask ourselves:

--What standards do we apply when choosing television programmes?

--When and why do we take children to the cinema?

--What comics and magazines do we buy them?

--Do we help them to "reflect" to the best of their ability?

--Have we ever thought that leaving the radio or television on at full blast can affect their nerves? or that uncontrolled exposure to media programmes can draw them away from spiritual values by bombarding them with images that exalt false values?

--Do we surround them with beautiful things?

--Do we educate them, with all the means in our power, to a sense of beauty, harmony, peace, respect and love for others, to all the things which reflect the goodness and fatherhood of God?