Directing Juvenile Thinking Regarding Recreation
403
correct wrong habits or the manifestation of selfishness or passion, and
can give their minds a turn in the right direction. That which children
enjoy they think mother can be pleased with, and it is perfectly natural
for them to consult mother in little matters of perplexity. And the
mother should not wound the heart of her sensitive child by treating
the matter with indifference or by refusing to be troubled with such
small matters. That which may be small to the mother is large to them.
And a word of direction or caution, at the right time, will often prove
of great value
Do Not Deny Innocent Pleasures—For lack of time and thought
many a mother refuses her children some innocent pleasure, while
busy fingers and weary eyes are diligently engaged on work designed
only for adornment, something that, at best, will serve only to encour-
age vanity and extravagance in their young hearts. As the children
approach manhood and womanhood, these lessons bear fruit in pride
and moral worthlessness. The mother grieves over her children’s faults
but does not realize that the harvest she is reaping is from seed which
she herself planted.
Some mothers are not uniform in the treatment of their children.
At times they indulge them to their injury, and again they refuse
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some innocent gratification that would make the childish heart very
happy. In this they do not imitate Christ; He loved the children;
He comprehended their feelings and sympathized with them in their
pleasures and their trials
How Mrs. White Restrained Her Children—When the children
will beg that they may go to this company or join that party of amuse-
ment, say to them: “I cannot let you go, children; sit right down here,
and I will tell you why. I am doing up work for eternity and for God.
God has given you to me and entrusted you to my care. I am standing
in the place of God to you, my children; therefore I must watch you as
one who must give an account in the day of God. Do you want your
mother’s name written in the books of heaven as one who failed to
do her duty to her children, as one who let the enemy come in and
preoccupy the ground that I ought to have occupied? Children, I am
going to tell you which is the right way, and then if you choose to
3
A Solemn Appeal, 136, 137
.
4
The Ministry of Healing, 389, 390
.