Chapter 15—Care in Handling Property
Repress Destructive Tendencies—Education must be all-round
and uniform. Every mother needs to be diligent. She must allow
nothing to divert her mind. She must not allow her children to follow
their uneducated will in handling things in the home. They should
be taught that they are not to keep the house in perpetual disorder by
handling things for their own amusement. Mothers, teach your children
from their earliest years that they are not to look upon everything in
the home as playthings for them. By these little things order is taught.
No matter what fuss the children may make, let not the organ of
destruction, which is large in babyhood and childhood, be strengthened
and cultivated. “Thou shalt,” and “Thou shalt not,” God says. Without
loss of temper, but decidedly, parents are to say to their children, No,
and mean it.
With firmness they are to refuse to allow everything in the home to
be handled freely and thrown about on the floor or in the dirt. Those
who allow a child to pursue such a course are doing him a great wrong.
He may not be a bad child, but his education is making him very
troublesome and destructive
Teach Respect for Others’ Property—Some parents allow their
children to be destructive, to use as playthings things which they have
no right to touch. Children should be taught that they must not handle
the property of other people. For the comfort and happiness of the
family, they must learn to observe the rules of propriety. Children are
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no happier when they are allowed to handle everything they see. If
they are not educated to be caretaking, they will grow up with unlovely,
destructive traits of character
Strong and Durable Playthings—Do not give the children play-
things that are easily broken. To do this is to teach lessons in destruc-
tiveness. Let them have a few playthings, and let these be strong and
1
Manuscript 64, 1899
.
2
The Signs of the Times, September 25, 1901
.
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