In the first grade we teach the children relationships in God's creation; how to get along with their brothers and sisters, their mothers and fathers, how to respect their grandparents and their teachers in school.
Concerning friends we need to do something early. In the first grade and second grade we need to steer them in the right direction concerning friends: how to have friends, what kind of friends, and how to choose the right friends.
Then we have a little introduction on God's government. This is government ordained by God. We do not teach them this doctrinally. We just tell them what their attitude has to be toward adults; toward older ones; their attitude toward teachers in school; their attitude toward the government, the firemen, the policemen, to those in authority. We tell them how these people represent God. This is human relationships in society, in the family, and in the church. We teach them about the brothers and sisters in the church including the older saints in the church. We teach them to have a good attitude and relationship toward others.
The main stress here is that all of this is God s arrangement. God has an arrangement. All the relationships of human beings are arranged by God for a purpose. Eventually, what is their attitude toward God? Actually, we cover all of this because they have not yet been regenerated. We have to help them to be God-fearers, to prepare them for God's salvation.
The preceding are the blending of briefly edited transcriptions of Gene Gruhler's sharings given in several localities.