by CR (130)
The way in which some parents behave by venting their anger on their children, making them scapegoats for their nervousness and bad mood, is not only wrong but abusive. As a result of this, children tend to see their parents as heartless and cruel and in order to escape punishment, may become deceptive and insincere, in their endeavour to conceal the actions which they formerly practised in the presence of their parents.
The advice of the father and mother must be given whenever it is necessary and opportune. Attentive and constant monitoring, in order to discover the character flaws of their children as they are revealed, will indicate the appropriate moment.
Among the indicators of character flaws are vanity, lack of punctuality, lack of respect, malice, carelessness, negligence, malicious gossip, untruthfulness, impoliteness, disrespect, cowardice, cruelty, mockery, disloyalty and pretense. Children should be made aware of these flaws and should listen with due attention and respect to their parents' admonitions. These should be given with love and concern, in clear, objective, and incisive considerations.
In the education of children, above all, sincerity, loyalty, justice and truth must always prevail. The natural curiosity of the little ones must be satisfied, never by means of conventional artificial lies, which are always discrediting, but with rational and convincing explanations, within the reach of the child intellect.
In the work of nature there is nothing ugly or shameful, when the limits of natural laws are respected. Shameful are vices, licentiousness, offense to good manners and lack of respect and moral sense.
Those who are willing to reason and make good use of their intelligence will not lack the means of expression to convey to their children sound ideas about the subtleties of earthly life.
References
[1] Christian Rationalism, 1st Edition, Rio de Janeiro 1984
[2] Compilation, paraphrasing, translation from original texts in Portuguese
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