120
Spiritual Gifts, Volume 4b
Children who are Christians will prefer the love and approbation of
their God-fearing parents above every earthly blessing. They will love
and honor their parents. This should be one of the principal studies of
their lives, How can I make my parents happy? Children who have not
[135]
been disciplined and received right instruction, have in this rebellious
age but little sense of their obligations to their parents. It is often the
case the more their parents do for them the more ungrateful they are,
and the less they respect them. Children that 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, and 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 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 every thing does not suit them.
I saw that some people are learning their children lessons which
will prove ruinous to them, and they are also planting thorns for their
own feet. Mistaken parents have thought if they gratified the wishes of
their children, and let them follow their own inclinations, they would
gain their love. What a mistaken idea! what an error! Children thus
disciplined, grow up unrestrained in their desires, unyielding in their
dispositions, selfish, exacting, and overbearing, and are a curse to
themselves and everybody around them. Parents, to a great extent,
hold the future happiness of their children in their own hands. Upon
them rests the important work of forming their children’s character.
The instructions they give them in childhood, will follow them all
through their lives. Parents can 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 misery.
Children should be taught very young to be useful, to help them-
selves, and help others. Many daughters of this age can see their
mothers toiling, cooking, washing, or ironing, while they sit with-
out remorse of conscience in the parlor to read stories, knit edging,
[136]
crotchet, or embroider. Their hearts are as unfeeling as a stone. But
where does this wrong originate? Who are the ones usually to blame
in this matter? The poor, deceived parents. They overlook the future
good of their children, and in their mistaken fondness, let them sit in