It’s said Timothy became an apostle when he was seventeen. He was Paul’s spiritual son, and his designated successor. And it happened because of two women: his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice. Interestingly, his father and grandfather are not mentioned. So as a single parent you can raise a winning child.
According to a ten-year study conducted at Harvard Medical School, there are six factors related to the eventual intellectual capacity of a child:
1) The most critical period of a child’s mental development is between eight and eighteen months old.
2) The mother is usually the most important person in the child’s environment.
3) The amount of ‘live’ language directed to the child between twelve and eighteen months is absolutely critical.
4) Children given free access to living areas of their homes progressed much faster than those whose movements are restricted.
5) The family is the most important educational delivery system.
6) The best parents are those who excel at three key functions: they are superb designers and organisers of their children’s environments; they permit their children to interrupt them for brief thirty-second episodes during which personal comfort and information are exchanged; finally, they are firm disciplinarians while simultaneously showing great affection for their children.
In other words, they love their kids, talk to them, treat them with respect, expose them to interesting things, organise their time, discipline them fairly, and raise them in strong stable families. It’s a time-honoured recipe for producing bright (and happy) children.
Neh 1-3, Rom 7
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