TRAINING &
EDUCATION OF 12 CHILDREN BY LUCKY PARENTS
Francis L.
Thompson and his wife, both are considered lucky. God virtue them twelve
children, the children in the best way so many of them adorned with exemplary
education and training that all children are now passing their happy and
prosperous life.
Mr. Thompson
is an American Engineer and he is also a member of American scientists. By
living with scientists team, who have invented satellite and Mr. Thompson has
also taken part into making missile control system and satellite system for the
sake of his country’s defense.
All 12 of
their children have college degrees or in school, and as parents they did not
pay for them. Most have graduate degrees. Those who are married have wonderful
having spouses with the same ethics and college degrees, too. They have 18
grandchildren who are learning the same things that their kids learned—self
respect, gratitude, and a desire to give back to society naturally
In 1974 Mr.
Thompson was got married with his beautiful and lover girlfriend. After passing
15 years, Gog blessed them 12 kids continuously. That is why they have 12
children today, their oldest is 37 and the youngest is 22 years
old. They have always had a very prosperous job and enough money to
give their kids almost anything. Mr. Thompson and his wife now live in
Colorado. They attribute the love between themselves as a part of their
success with the children. They see a stable home life with a commitment that
does not have compromises.
ASSIGNMENTS AT
HOME
Kids had to
perform household tasks from age of 3 years. But when a 3-year-old does not
clean toilets very well but by the time he is 4, it’s a reasonably good job. He
got allowances based on how he did the household tasks for the week end. The
children had to wash their own clothes by the time, the assigned them a wash
day. When they started reading, they had to make dinner by reading a recipe.
They also had to learn to double a recipe. Mr. Thompson has also taught his
kids how to sew.
STUDY ASSIGNMENTS
Education was
very important for all his family members. Mr. Thompson fixed a study time from
6 to 8pm every week day. No television, No computer, games, or other activities
until the two hours complete up for studying. If they had no homework, then
they read books. For those too young to be in school, we had someone read books
to them. After the two hours, they could do whatever they wanted as long as
they were in by curfew. All the kids were required to take every Advanced
Placement class there was. We did not let entrance scores be an impediment. We
went to the school and demanded our kids be let in. Then we, as parents, spent
the time to ensure they had the understanding to pass the class. After the
first child, the school learned that we kept our promise that the kids could
handle the AP classes. If children would come home and say that a teacher hated
them or was not fair, our response was that you need to find a way to get
along. You need find a way to learn the material because in real life, you may
have a boss that does not like you. We would not enable children to “blame” the
teacher for not learning, but place the responsibility for learning the
material back on the child. Of course, we were alongside them for two hours of
study a day, for them to ask for help anytime. Picky eaters not allowed. We all
ate dinner and breakfast together. Breakfast was at 5:15am and then the
children had to do chores before school. Dinner was at 5:30pm. More broadly,
food was interesting. We wanted a balanced diet, but hated it when we were
young and parents made us eat all our food. Sometimes we were full and just did
not want to eat anymore. Our rule was to give the kids the food they hated most
first (usually vegetables) and then they got the next type of food. They did
not have to eat it and could leave the table. If later they complained they were
hungry, we would get out that food they did not want to eat, warm it up in the
microwave, and provide it to them. Again, they did not have to eat it. But they
got no other food until the next meal unless they ate it. We did not have
snacks between meals. We always had the four food groups (meat, dairy, grain,
fruits and vegetables) and nearly always had dessert of some kind. To this day,
our kids are not afraid to try different foods, and have no allergies to foods.
They try all kinds of new foods and eat only until they are full. Not one of
our kids is even a little bit heavy. They are thin, athletic, and very healthy.
With 12 kids, you would think that at least one would have some food allergies
or food special needs. (I am not a doctor.)
EXTRACURRICULAR
All kids had
to play some kind of sport. They got to choose, but choosing none was not an
option. We started them in grade school. We did not care if it was swimming,
football, baseball, fencing, tennis, etc. and did not care if they chose to
change sports. But they had to play something. All kids had to be in some kind
of club: Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, history, drama, etc. They were required to
provide community service. We would volunteer within our community and at
church. For Eagle Scout projects, we would have the entire family help. Once we
collected old clothes and took them to Mexico and passed them out. The kids saw
what life was like for many families and how their collections made them so
happy and made a difference.
INDEPENDENCE
When the kids
turned 16, we bought each a car. The first one learned what that meant. As
the tow truck pulled a once “new” car into the driveway, my oldest proclaimed:
“Dad, it is a wreck!” I said, “Yes, but a 1965 Mustang fastback wreck. Here are
the repair manuals. Tools are in the garage. I will pay for every part, but
will not pay for LABOR.” Eleven months later, the car had a rebuilt engine,
rebuilt transmission, newly upholstered interior, a new suspension system, and
a new coat of paint. My daughter (yes, it was my daughter) had one of the
hottest cars at high school. And her pride that she built it was beyond
imaginable. (As a side note, none of my kids ever got a ticket for
speeding, even though no car had less than 450 horsepower.) We as parents
allowed kids to make mistakes. Five years before the 16th birthday and
their “new” car gift, they had to help out with our family cars. Once I asked
my son, Samuel, to change the oil and asked if he needed help or instruction.
“No, Dad, I can do it.” An hour later, he came in and said, “Dad, does it take
18 quarts of oil to change the oil?” I asked where did he put 18 quarts
of oil when normally only five were needed. His response: “That big screw on
top at the front of the engine.” I said “You mean the radiator?” Well, he
did not get into trouble for filling the radiator with oil. He had to drain it,
we bought a radiator flush, put in new radiator fluid, and then he had to
change the real oil. We did not ground him or give him any punishment for doing
it “wrong.” We let the lesson be the teaching tool. Our children are not afraid
to try something new. They were trained that if they do something wrong
they will not get punished. It often cost us more money, but we were raising
kids, not saving money. The kids each got their own computer, but had to build
it. I bought the processor, memory, power supply, case, keyboard, hard drive,
motherboard, and mouse. They had to put it together and load the software on.
This started when they were 12. We let the children make their own choices, but
limited. For example, do you want to go to bed now or clean your room? Rarely,
did we give directives that were one way, unless it dealt with living the
agreed-upon family rules. This let the child feel that she had some control
over life.
In it together. We required the children to help each
other. When a fifth grader is required to read 30 minutes a day, and a
first grader is required to be read to 30 minutes a day, have one sit next
to the other and read. Those in high school calculus tutored those in algebra
or grade-school math. We assigned an older child to a younger child to teach
them and help them accomplish their weekly chores. We let the children be a
part of making the family rules. For example, the kids wanted the rule that no
toys were allowed in the family room. The toys had to stay either in the
bedroom or playroom. In addition to their chores, they had to all clean their
bedroom every day (or just keep it clean in the first place). These were rules
that the children wanted. We gave them a chance each month to amend or create
new rules. Mom and Dad had veto power of course. We tried to be always
consistent. If they had to study two hours every night, we did not make an
exception to it. Curfew was 10pm during school nights and midnight on
non-school nights. There were no exceptions to the rules.
VACATION POLICY
We would take
family vacations every summer for two or three weeks. We could afford a hotel,
or cruise, but did not choose those options. We went camping and backpacking.
If it rained, then we would figure out how to backpack in the rain and survive.
We would set up a base camp at a site with five or six tents, and I would take
all kids age 6 or older on a three- to five-day backpack trip. My wife would
stay with the little ones. Remember, for 15 years, she was either pregnant or
just had a baby. My kids and I hiked across the Grand Canyon, to the top of
Mount Whitney, across the Continental Divide, across Yosemite. We would send
kids via airplane to relatives in Europe or across the US for two or three
weeks at a time. We started this when they were in kindergarten. It would take
special treatment for the airlines to take a 5-year-old alone on the plane and
required people on the other end to have special documentation. We only sent
the kids if they wanted to go. However, with the younger ones seeing the older
ones travel, they wanted to go. The kids learned from an early age that we, as
parents, were always there for them, but would let them grow their own wings
and fly.
MONEY AND MATERIALISM
Even though we have sufficient money, we have not helped
the children buy homes, pay for education, pay for weddings (yes, we do not pay
for weddings either). We have provided extensive information on how to do it or
how to buy rental units and use equity to grow wealth. We do not “give” things
to our children but we give them information and teach them “how” to do things.
We have helped them with contacts in corporations, but they have to do the
interviews and “earn” the jobs. We give birthday and Christmas presents to the
kids. We would play Santa Claus but as they got older, and would ask about it,
we would not lie. We would say it is a game we play and it is fun. We did
and do have lists for items that each child would like for presents. Then
everyone can see what they want. With the internet, it is easy to send such
lists around to the children and grandchildren. Still, homemade gifts are often
the favorite of all.
THE RESULT OF ALL THIS EDUCATION AND TRAINING OF KIDS
We loved the children
regardless of what they did. But would not prevent consequences of any of their
actions. We let them suffer consequences and would not try to mitigate the
consequences because we saw them suffering. We would cry and be sad, but would
not do anything to reduce the consequences of their actions. We were and are
not our kids’ best friends. We were their parents.
