Chapter 32—Preparation
“Study to show thyself approved unto God.”
The child’s first teacher is the mother. During the period of greatest
susceptibility and most rapid development his education is to a great
degree in her hands. To her first is given opportunity to mold the
character for good or for evil. She should understand the value of her
opportunity, and, above every other teacher, should be qualified to
use it to the best account. Yet there is no other to whose training so
little thought is given. The one whose influence in education is most
potent and far-reaching is the one for whose assistance there is the
least systematic effort.
Those to whom the care of the little child is committed are too
often ignorant of its physical needs; they know little of the laws of
health or the principles of development. Nor are they better fitted to
care for its mental and spiritual growth. They may be qualified to
conduct business or to shine in society; they may have made creditable
attainments in literature and science; but of the training of a child they
have little knowledge. It is chiefly because of this lack, especially
because of the early neglect of physical development, that so large a
proportion of the human race die in infancy, and of those who reach
maturity there are so many to whom life is but a burden.
[276]
Upon fathers as well as mothers rests a responsibility for the
child’s earlier as well as its later training, and for both parents the
demand for careful and thorough preparation is most urgent. Before
taking upon themselves the possibilities of fatherhood and mother-
hood, men and women should become acquainted with the laws of
physical development—with physiology and hygiene, with the bear-
ing of prenatal influences, with the laws of heredity, sanitation, dress,
exercise, and the treatment of disease; they should also understand the
laws of mental development and moral training.
This work of education the Infinite One has counted so important
that messengers from His throne have been sent to a mother that was
207