Underestimating What Children Can Learn

Here is a good word from Dr. Peter Leithart about teaching children, from the preface of his book A House for My Name:

I encourage parents not to underestimate what children can learn about the Bible.  Unlike many books of theology, the content of the Bible is fairly easy to grasp.  Even (especially?) a two-year-old understands what happens when someone's head is bashed with a tent peg.  If trained to read properly, children can begin to see how parts of the Bible are connected to each other and to one big story.

It has been my experience that too often it is assumed, not least in Christian circles, that children need an adult brain before they can really start learning.  Alas!  It's probably then that it's too late for some of the most important learning to take place, with years of sponginess and inquisitiveness gone and forever lost.

(By the way, in case you missed it, the tent peg reference is from the book of Judges, when Jael pounded a tent peg through Sisera's head, just before one of the great songs of Scripture.)