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Testimonies for the Church Volume 1
Thus the first efforts of the learners are repulsed, and the first failure
so cools their interest and ardor to learn that they dread another trial,
and will propose to sew, knit, clean house—anything but cook. Here
the mother was greatly at fault. She should have patiently instructed
them that they might by practice obtain an experience which would
remove the awkwardness and remedy the unskillful movements of the
inexperienced worker. Here I will add extracts from
Testimony for the
church vol. 1, No. 10, page 392
, published in 1864:
“Children who have been petted and waited upon, always expect
it; and if their expectations are not met, they are disappointed and
discouraged. This same disposition will be seen through their whole
lives; they will be helpless, leaning upon others for aid, expecting
others to favor them and yield to them. And if they are opposed,
even after they have grown to manhood and womanhood, they think
themselves abused; and thus they worry their way through the world,
hardly able to bear their own weight, often murmuring and fretting
because everything does not suit them.
“Mistaken parents are teaching their children lessons which will
prove ruinous to them, and are also planting thorns for their own feet.
They think that by gratifying the wishes of their children, and letting
them follow their own inclinations, they can gain their love. What an
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error! Children thus indulged grow up unrestrained in their desires,
unyielding in their dispositions, selfish, exacting, and overbearing,
a curse to themselves and to all around them. To a great extent,
parents hold in their own hands the future happiness of their children.
Upon them rests the important work of forming the character of these
children. The instructions given in childhood will follow them all
through life. Parents sow the seed which will spring up and bear
fruit either for good or evil. They can fit their sons and daughters for
happiness or for misery.
“Children should be taught very young to be useful, to help them-
selves, and to help others. Many daughters of this age can, without
remorse of conscience, see their mothers toiling, cooking, washing,
or ironing, while they sit in the parlor and read stories, knit edging,
crochet, or embroider. Their hearts are as unfeeling as a stone. But
where does this wrong originate? Who are the ones usually most to
blame in this matter? The poor, deceived parents. They overlook the
future good of their children, and in their mistaken fondness, let them