Twaddle Too Often

I still recall the time many years ago when we scraped the bottom of our newlywed bank account to buy a gift for a little boy. We got him a sturdy but simple toy car. No flashing lights, no screeching sounds, no remote control—it had no limits but imagination.

When our little friend opened the present, he got a puzzled look on his face. He turned the car over in his hands, looked at his dad, and asked, “What’s it do?”

You see, this child had been fed a steady diet of toys that required little or no imagination. Each one had entertained the boy’s senses for a while, but none had challenged him to cultivate that oh-so-satisfying work called “imagining.” Because he was used to the feeble, diluted, spoon-fed toys, he couldn’t appreciate the time-tested hearty ones and the satisfying challenge they offer.

Charlotte Mason said that it’s the same with books.

Twaddle Too Often

It’s easy to find books that appeal to the eyes—books with lots of pictures and short snippets of sentences; books with lots of action and little character; books that entertain but require no effort. In other words, twaddle.

Such material is not the stuff that will strengthen a child’s imagination.

“Imagination does not stir at the suggestion of the feeble, much-diluted stuff that is too often put into children’s hands” (Vol. 1, p. 294).

An imagination requires exercise to strengthen, and why should a child exercise his imagination when everything has been done for him? There is no need for chewing when fed baby food.

Charlotte found a better way to exercise the imagination. She pointed to the detailed illustrations that her students created from “the various images that present themselves to the minds of children during the reading of a great work; and a single such glimpse into a child’s mind convinces us of the importance of sustaining that mind upon strong meat” (Vol. 1, p. 294).

Do you want your child to have a good imagination? Train him up on time-tested, hearty living books. Such great works will exercise his imagination because they will paint pictures with their words, and he will put forth the effort to become strong in the art of seeing with his mind’s eye.

Some may ask, “Then is there ever a place for pictures?” Absolutely. Especially when the living book is about a time period with which the student is unfamiliar. In those instances, a few well-chosen artifacts or simple drawings can lead the imagination in the right direction.

But Charlotte was warning us to beware of thinking we must spoon-feed every scene of the story using as many illustrations as we can find. Such a visual overload will squelch the imagination, not strengthen it.

Too often we assume the child cannot understand or follow in his mind’s eye, and so we feed him feeble, much-diluted stuff.

“Imagination does not stir at the suggestion of the feeble, much-diluted stuff that is too often put into children’s hands” (Vol. 1, p. 294).

PS: After reading that statement, I was curious what else Charlotte had to say about “too often.” Watch for more of her “too often” statements sprinkled throughout the coming weeks’ posts. They’re quite interesting, and I hope you’ll find them both reassuring and challenging, as I did.