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Teaching Lessons of Helpfulness
Life is not given to be spent in idleness and self-pleasing. Great
possibilities have been placed before everyone who will develop his
God-given capabilities. For this reason the training of the young is
a matter of highest importance. Every child born into the home is
a sacred trust. God says to the parents, “Take this child, and bring
it up for Me, that it may be an honor to My name, and a channel
through which My blessings shall flow to the world.” To fit the child
for such a life, something more is called for than a partial, one-
sided education which shall develop the mental at the expense of
the physical powers. All the faculties of mind and body need to be
developed; and this is the work which parents, aided by the teacher,
are to do for the children and youth placed under their care.
The first lessons are of great importance. It is customary to
send very young children to school. They are required to study
from books things that tax their young minds, and often they are
taught music. Frequently the parents have but limited means, and an
expense is incurred which they can ill afford, but everything must
be made to bend to this artificial line of education. This course is
not wise. A nervous child should not be overtaxed in any direction
and should not learn music until he is physically well developed.
The mother should be the teacher, and home the school where
every child receives his first lessons; and these lessons should include
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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 their
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 a disinterested, helpful part in sharing the domestic burdens
and to seek healthful exercise in the performance of necessary home
duties.
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