A Proposed Sila-Dhamma Cultivation Model for Early Childhood

Abstract

Thai moral social perspectives on goodness, badness, rightness, wrongness, ought to and not ought to have diversity as result of faith, religious teachings, cultures, traditions, lifestyles, and the rapidly changing of social movement in the world. Negative attitudes toward the morals of adults in the family effect the juveniles on their negative behaviors. The youths tend to misbehave themselves they will have for example, social interaction problems lacking of social skills, drug addiction and having immature sexual relationship. Cultivating good morals, in the education system, should start from early childhood because of their highly memory and physical practice abilities. Then children will construct good and desireable habits. This article is a result of research from textbooks, articles, theories, and concepts about children development and morality of western scholars and Buddhist doctrine for proposed moral counseling in early childhood. The results summarize as follows.

1. Moral Criteria should start from self-control by mental action and judgment called absolute conscience. The concepts of Kant and Utilitarianism resemble the a ‘precept’ morality/decipline of Buddhism. The subject of the precepts is universal. Thus, it is suitable to apply in early childhood.
2. Early childhood developments are simultaneous with 4 aspects: Physical, Personality, Ethics and social changes.
3. There are two ways to promote morality in early childhood 1) focusing on the physical (precepts), mental
(meditation), and wisdom, and 2) promoting with the surrounding environment. The environment should be clean and organized in a safe and secure environment. Proactive activities make children familiar with morality and promote social and personality development. The children are closely taken care by the parents with 6 basics for the soul: 1) love and warmth, 2) understanding child development, 3) using the words to praise and avoiding severe rebuke, 4) encouraging freedom, 5) building peaceful family atmosphere and 6) Nurturing children in the right ways.In conclusion, although human beings have different religious beliefs and principles about moral life, but they have similar moral criteria and same common poits. So, they can join and live together peacefully.