Charlotte Mason’s Habit Training Wisdom
Charlotte Mason, an early educator from the early 1900’s, had a unique outlook on the education of children. She claimed that the foundation for knowledge didn’t begin in the classroom, but rather in the teaching of good habits at home (the top three being: attention, truthfulness, and obedience).
She explains, βThe mother who takes the pains to endow her children with good habits secures for herself smooth and easy days.β
I’m really intrigued by this simple idea, not just for the fact that I crave smoother days, but that these years leading up to a formal education are in themselves informally formal. π
Instead of waiting until I see a bad habit and then find myself in a position that I need to fix it, I can start by intentionally instilling good habits.
I can start off on a positive note, instead of a negative behavior. It also gives me a plan and direction in my parenting, which gives me purpose, and I like that.
When I came across Charlotte Masonβs material I resonated with her ideas, especially with her concept of habit training. I wanted to share some of her thoughts and tips that Iβve found and perhaps you can get some inspiration from it as well…
Charlotte Masonβs Habit Training Wisdom
1. Habits Rule
βWhether habits are planned and created conscientiously, or allowed to be haphazardly filled in by chance, they are habits all the same. Habit rules ninety-nine percent of everything we do.β-CM
It doesn’t take long to realize that our children, (like us) function out of habit. Β They like their food a certain way, and their blankets just right. They thrive on routine and with that being said, a bad habit is just as easy to form as a good habit.
An example of this at our home as been meals. Β They have gotten out of hand a couple times. With three kids insisting their preferences and us catering to their particular habits, (Such as trying to match the color of their cups to their outfits, or getting their panties in a wad about daddy-forks and mommy-forks π ), weβve had to do some retraining of habits so our moments around the kitchen table can be enjoyable for everyone.Β
2. Good Habits are Chosen by the Parent
βIn the hands of the mother, is as his wheel to the potter, his knife to the carverβthe instrument by means of which she turns out the design she has already conceived in her brain.β -CM
One of the habits we have chosen for our kids, is a regular bedtime. When 7:45 pm rolls around, itβs jammies, books, and prayer, so all the littles are ready to be tucked in by 8pm.
The benefit of establishing this habit has not only been happier, rested children during the daytime, but has given us time together as a couple to reconnect and recoup from our day.
3. Good Habits Take Intentional Work
βIt takes a few weeks of work to build a new habit. Once the habit is in place, it must be guarded diligently to prevent a reversion to the old ways, but keeping watch is not stressful or difficult once the new habit is secure.β -CM
We quickly discovered the hard work that went into establishing good habits when we insisted that our kids stayed in their beds for the night. Consistently walking them back to their bed after the twentieth request to quench their dire thirst or empty the two drops they had left in their bladder was tiring. Yet with gentle persistence, they learned.
Charlotte Mason also compared this hard work to the tending of a sick child. You wait on them with a consistent care until they are brought to a place of stability. This picture of care has really aided our understanding of the diligent effort it takes from us to instill a desired habit. πΒ
4. Good Habits Give Freedom
βThe point of training children to have good habits is so that they’ll do things without being nagged, or scolded. Then the mother isn’t constantly chasing them down with a barrage of commands and reminders. She can leave them alone to thrive in their own way, once a habit has secured a boundary for them to grow in.β-CM
As our kids are getting into the preschool years we are starting to experience some of this freedom that comes from the boundaries we have already set. Just the other day, I had the garage door open and as the kids were riding bikes, never once did they cross that line we had established was βtoo closeβ to the road. My one-year-old, however, still needed my constant watch because she hasnβt earned the freedom to explore that comes from the learned boundary.
Laying a good foundation…
The teaching of habits can sometimes feel like monotonous training, but they are really a vital foundation we are laying for the rest of their education. We are teaching our little people how to have relationships, how to pay attention, and how to gauge morality.
The encouragement in this is…what you do is so much more that just long days and dirty dishes. You are giving them the gift of good character that will allow them to function as healthy, productive, and kind adults.
Parent Resources for Habit Training
1.Laying Down the Rails for Children from simplycharlottemason.com. This is a two book set that contains different character habits you might want to teach your kids. Some of the habits include, but are certainly not limited too: Cleanliness, courtesy, kindness, manners, courage, diligence, generosity, meekness, patience, attention, honesty, obedience, respect for others…etc.
Each habit comes with a set of various lessons containing stories, poems, and scriptures you can share with your children to develop good habits from within.
This book is Charlotte Mason style, so the content is very old school and based on rich literature.She recommended you spend at least eight weeks teaching a particular habit. With that being said, there are ten years worth of habits in these books! π
2. Habits: The Mother’s Secret to Success. This is a selection of Charlotte Mason’s writings on the topic of teaching habits.
*This post contains an Amazon affiliate link.
I’d love to hear from you!
What are some habits are you teaching your kids?
What are some habits you really want to teach them?
Well said/written! I personally believe that school and education in a sense starts at home, so if you work on things early on, hopefully your child reaps the benefit later in life when you aren’t the only teacher! Love it.
On another note, how is the self-hosting going? I e-mailed you wondering π
Thanks Sammy! Yes, I sent you a reply. Did you not get it?
I must have accidentally read it or something, but now I see it π Thanks for the quick FAQs.
Glad you got it! <3
Hi Jessica, this is such an awesome post! Charlotte Mason was a truly great Mom in forming her kids. I need to focus on the part ” The Mom who takes the pains to endow her kids with good habits secures smooth and easy days for herself” I feel I need to work harder on instilling good habits. The kitchen table needs more control I know. I am trying slowly to turn things around! We do a regular routine for bedtime during school year but it is a little later in summer. But still there is the routine of jammies , brushing teeth Prayers and tucking in. We have had the waking up to do one thing or another but they realise that they were put to bed to sleep in the long run. The gift of good character is SO important in forming them. I need to go back to this post as a help and guide for Me to do what is best foe the kids. Thank you again Jessica, hugs, Terri xoxo.
Thanks for sharing, Terry! I’m right there with you, reading about her philosophies of habit training have been so motivating to shape up my game in this department. There are just so many areas…where to start, right?!
Yes where to start is a big question Jessica! But as long as it’s a step in the right direction it’s all we can ask for. How is your day going? Take care and hugs Terri xo.
I really enjoyed this post. Our oldest daughter had just sent me an article about Charlotte Mason, and I loved it. So to read your post now…solidified that I’m on the right track. When our four oldest children were being home-schooled, I used Christian Liberty Academy. Great program, but I was one worn-out mom with nine subjects per child! And they did the test grading! This also didn’t work so well for three of our children. So, when I read about Charlotte Mason, and now this post, I really love what I’m hearing. I think it will work very well, and have been doing most of what she recommends already. When I look back over the home-schooling years, it was the consistency, good-habit training, hands-on, experience stuff that went into their little heads. Not so much the text book. I also focused on a lot of memorization, just so they would have it handy. So, I will be investigating this further for our 7th grader!
That is awesome! I’m very familiar with Christian Liberty Academy, and I know what you mean! If you are interested in more Charlotte Mason, Karen Andreola has a book called the Charlotte Mason Companion-a gentle art of learning which is great! I hope you have a great year with your 7th grader!
You did such a lovely job of transferring her ideas into modern day. I am a huge fan of her words and work, and loved incorporating ideas into our homeschool
Thank you! I’ve really enjoyed getting familiar with her work as well! Its fun to meet people who have used her ideas and have had good experiences. π