Chapter 3—When to Begin the Child’s Training
Education Begins With the Infant—The word “education”
means more than a course of study at college. Education begins
with the infant in its mother’s arms. While the mother is molding and
fashioning the character of her children, she is educating them
Parents send their children to school; and when they have done
this, they think they have educated them. But education is a matter
of greater breadth than many realize: it comprises the whole process
by which the child is instructed from babyhood to childhood, from
childhood to youth, and from youth to manhood. As soon as a child is
capable of forming an idea, his education should begin
Start When the Mind Is Most Impressible—The work of edu-
cation and training should commence with the babyhood of the child;
for then the mind is the most impressible, and the lessons given are
remembered
Children should virtually be trained in a home school from the
cradle to maturity. And, as in the case of any well-regulated school, the
teachers themselves gain important knowledge; the mother especially,
who is the principal teacher in the home, should there learn the most
valuable lessons of her life
It is a parent’s duty to speak right words.... Day by day parents
should learn in the school of Christ lessons from One that loves them.
Then the story of God’s everlasting love will be repeated in the home
[27]
school to the tender flock. Thus, before reason is fully developed,
children may catch a right spirit from their parents
Give Study to the Early Training—The early training of children
is a subject that all should carefully study. We need to make the
education of our children a business, for their salvation depends largely
upon the education given them in childhood. Parents and guardians
1
Good Health, July, 1880 par. 12
.
2
The Review and Herald, June 27, 1899
.
3
Letter 1, 1877
.
4
Pacific Health Journal, May, 1890
.
5
Manuscript 84, 1897
.
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