Parenting by Richard Kieninger The Brotherhoods inform us that the proper rearing of children is essential to the progress and maintenance of a high level of civilization. Based on millennia of observation and experience in Lemuria and other advanced cultures, it became obvious to the Brotherhoods that only highly developed individuals can comprise a highly developed civilization. It is mandatory that if a culture is to produce Initiates in large numbers, it must devote much of its attention and energy to the maximization of the potentials of each succeeding generation. Each child must receive optimum support and training if he is to be neurologically, emotionally and psychologically fulfilled and have the best chance at becoming intellectually bright and creative—his intelligence is directly proportional to all these factors. We have been given specific guidelines by the Brotherhoods to help guarantee that children enjoy the highest probability of attaining full use of their brains and can thus help advance civilization at the fastest pace possible. These guidelines emphasize the necessity of the complete devotion of each set of parents and of the whole community to the education of Adelphi children. We have been encouraged to detect the faults in our culture’s attitudes and in our personal makeups so that we can avoid passing along destructive tendencies to the next generation. The Brotherhoods have stated every mother must be supported financially and emotionally by a loving husband so that she can devote all the attention appropriate to her children’s education and fulfillment of their natural needs. Citizens are asked not to marry too young and are enjoined by the Brotherhoods from having children until they establish their marital compatibility for at least three years together. The parents’ maturity and their personal skills at maintaining a happy, successful life is of great importance to the healthy maturing of their offspring. A wife is expected to not have a child unless she is prepared and willing to personally lavish six years of intense, dedicated education on each infant and provide continual active support of each of her children for twelve years thereafter. Parents are expected to space their children at least six years apart because each child is entitled to exclusive upbringing by his parents during the first six years of life when the great majority of his lifetime’s attitudes, morality, and intelligence will be established unalterably. As in Lemuria, families should be limited to two children, and at most have three. Intelligence testing of hundreds of thousands of people and matching their scores with their birth order in their family has demonstrated that one’s intelligence declines with family size. The fewer the children in your family, the smarter you are likely to be; and the fewer older siblings you have, the brighter you are likely to be. The relationship between birth order and intelligence proved to be independent of social class. When the first child is born into a family, he is reared by two adults. The second child is reared by two adults and a child, who has far less than adult intelligence. As each subsequent child is born, the intellectual environment of the family as an average deteriorates. The pool of intellectual capacity from which each subsequent child may draw diminishes drastically. The larger the family, the more time each child spends in a world of child-sized minds. A variable which ameliorates this dilution of intelligence is to increase the length of time between births so that each preceding child can have more time to develop a higher percentage of his adult mental capacity. With very large gaps between children, the study showed that the negative effects of birth order on intelligence reverses. Having children only two or three years apart detracts from parents’ ability to maintain a close, one-to-one teaching relationship with the young child. The Brotherhoods insist that a child must be taught to read by his parents by his third birthday and to write by the time he Is four years old. Then follows an even more intensive education program by the parents with close emotional bonding for the next two years. The child is thus prepared by age six to move into the larger world with confidence and in possession of all the basic tools of learning. Every genius in this world was the recipient of just such attention from a caring adult. Of course, if the parents are social misfits or emotionally immature, the budding genius will probably also absorb the inadequacies of the teacher. Having a brother or sister only two or three years different in age generates a rivalry which is essentially destructive. Some people think it useful to have children close together in age so they can be companions and play together, but the jealousies inherent in such similar age groupings do more harm than good. The learned habits of contentiousness, competition, anger, and mutual wariness continue into adulthood. If it is the parents’ intention to mostly ignore their young children and abandon their earliest education to television and the neighbors’ kids, then perhaps having one’s own sibling for constant togetherness is of some emotional value, but it is unquestionably destructive to the intelligence of the children and, interestingly enough, tends to diminish the intellectual ability of the mother. Evidence indicates that parents must be almost constantly available during the child’s first six years to provide stimulation and support. These are the most critical years of development of the intellect. If a mother is immersed in other concerns, she may be insensitive to her baby’s needs. This creates a condition counter to the development of basic trust and normal emotional and intellectual progress. Psychological inventories and studies of interpersonal relationships in adults have shown that a child who is reared without siblings is as likely to be free of neurosis and be as happy as anyone else. The only child has all the advantages of being the first born as well as the baby of the family, except that he can’t have the intelligence-building opportunity of having a younger sibling he can help teach. The only child is not any more likely to be brooding or lonely than anyone else; rather he responds more openly to cooperative moves from other people and is more trusting than adults who grew up with brothers and sisters. Moreover, the only child is more independent, tends toward leadership, is more reliable, has a better verbal IQ, and is more adult-like in behavior. However, the stereotype expressed by persons who have siblings is that the only child must be lonely, unhappy and maladjusted. That view might be due to parental propaganda to make one glad to have a brother or sister. In families where children are spaced six to ten years apart, each child is allowed the opportunity to be reared almost like an only child. With a minimum of six years between them, siblings are not competing for the same kinds of parental attention, and they are not squabbling over sharing the same kinds of toys at the same time. A ten-year-old child is more tolerant of and can actually be loving toward a four-year-old sibling who is no competition in his league. The kindnesses and hero worship between such children is mostly beneficial. The Brotherhoods are most concerned that every factor which can contribute toward the probability of sure advancement of the human race be understood and practiced, at least in the Nation of God.
	Child Rearing in the Past