Preparing for School
229
instruction at a tender age is what is needed by children in the formation
of character
Lessons During the Transition Period—The mother should be
the teacher, and home the school where every child receives his first
lessons; and these lessons should include habits of industry. Mothers,
let the little ones play in the open air; let them listen to the songs
of the birds and learn the love of God as expressed in His beautiful
works. Teach them simple lessons from the book of nature and the
things about them; and as their minds expand, lessons from books
may be added and firmly fixed in the memory. But let them also learn,
even in their earliest years, to be useful. Train them to think that, as
members of the household, they are to act an interested, helpful part
in sharing the domestic burdens, and to seek healthful exercise in the
performance of necessary home duties
It Need Not Be a Painful Process—Such a training is of untold
value to a child, and this training need not be a painful process. It can
be so given that the child will find pleasure in learning to be helpful.
Mothers can amuse their children while teaching them to perform little
offices of love, little home duties. This is the mother’s work—patiently
to instruct her children, line upon line, precept upon precept, here a
little, and there a little. And in doing this work, the mother herself will
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gain an invaluable training and discipline
Morals Imperiled by School Associates—Do not send your little
ones to school too early. The mother should be careful how she trusts
the molding of the infant mind to other hands
Many mothers feel that they have not time to instruct their children,
and in order to get them out of the way, and get rid of their noise and
trouble, they send them to school....
Not only has the physical and mental health of children been en-
dangered by being sent to school at too early a period, but they have
been the losers in a moral point of view. They have had opportunities
to become acquainted with children who were uncultivated in their
manners. They were thrown into the society of the coarse and rough,
who lie, swear, steal and deceive, and who delight to impart their
3
Pacific Health Journal, September, 1897
.
4
Fundamentals of Christian Education, 416, 417
.
5
Letter 55, 1902
.
6
Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene, 67
.