Conversations Concerning Children, Published for the Perusal of Parents

Conversations Concerning Children, Published For The Perusal Of Parents by Richard Treffry is a didactic, dialogue-driven treatise on Christian parenting and education. Through conversations between Discipulus and Paternus, the work surveys the duties of parents toward their children, and outlines a practical program for shaping a child's mind, memory, language, and moral character. Topics range from provisioning and early literacy to writing, grammar, and the religious formation of the young. Treffry argues for early and regular religious instruction, the central authority of the Bible, and instruction delivered in simple, intelligible terms rather than ornate rhetoric. It stresses the indispensability of parental example, especially that of mothers, and the discipline of prayer, Sabbath observance, and social conduct. It also discusses health, diet, exercise, and the dangers of too much dependence on public schools or secular amusements. The volume urges parents to cultivate virtue, piety, and reverence for God as the ultimate aim of education, for this life and eternity.