1. Childhood and Adolescence

World Scripture

Every child is born of the nature of purity and submission to God.
Hadith of Bukhari (Islam)

Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.
Luke 18.16-17

The great man is he who does not lose his child’s heart.
Mencius IV.B.12 (Confucianism)

You can only coil a fish when it is fresh.
Nupe Proverb (African Traditional Religions)

Elisha ben Abuyah said: If one learns when a youth, to what is it like? It is as ink written on new paper. If one learns when an old man, it is as ink written on erased paper.
Mishnah, Avot 4.25 (Judaism)

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need some one to teach you again the first principles of God’s word. You need milk, not solid food; for every one who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their faculties trained by practice to distinguish good from evil.
Hebrews 5.12-14

I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.
1 John 2.14

You will be running to the four corners of the universe: To where the land meets the big water; To where the sky meets the land; To where the home of winter is; To the home of rain. Run this! Run! Be strong! For you are the mother of a people.
Apache Initiation Song (Native American Religions)

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon

Father! We must become children, children who implore Thee, “We are hungry” when we are hungry. Children are thirsty for their mother’s love. Children are simple and innocent. The more they are raised, brought up and gently embraced, the more they grow to follow their parents’ standard… Please allow us to have hearts that long for Thee, like hungry babes longing for their mother’s milk.
(20:11, March 31, 1968)

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if God had created Adam and Eve complete and perfect? But that is not how the universe works. All things begin from the bottom-most stage and grow to reach their proper level. Thus, Adam and Eve should begin their lives as babies and grow up. They are not meant to have a complete relationship with the universe in an instant. When a young man reaches the age of fifteen, sixteen and seventeen, he comes to enjoy the world of male-female relationships. He feels romantic, poetic yearnings. Don’t teenagers feel that way? They would like to leave home, travel all over the world and find adventure on land and sea. That is when their eyes are wide open to find a partner for love.
(January 8, 1984)

Adolescence is the time to give off fragrance. It spreads far and wide, attracting the bees and butterflies. That is why young men and women want to become the top champion, the top student, the top everything.
(56:262, January 2, 1972)

Today’s teenagers are wild; they hook up with anyone willy-nilly. By doing so, they bring about their own ruin and society’s ruin. Yet, because adolescence is a time of change, teens cannot settle with one partner; they go from one relationship to another. Therefore, teenagers need to follow a definite discipline and be aware of the dangerous circumstances in which they live. You [parents] need to straighten them out. You need to clear up the complications in their lives.
(118:197, June 1, 1982)