134
Child Guidance
be treated as kind and obedient, but as disturbers of the peace and
corrupters of their companions
By Allowing the Children to Follow Their Own Minds—The
prevailing influence in society is in favor of allowing the youth to
follow the natural turn of their own minds
They [parents] think that by gratifying the wishes of their children
and letting them follow their own inclinations, they can gain their
love. What an 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
By Allowing Wrong Attitudes—The lessons of childhood, good
or bad, are not learned in vain. Character is developed in youth for
good or evil. At home there may be praise and false flattery; in
the world each stands on his own merits. The pampered ones, to
whom all home authority has yielded, are there daily subjected to
mortification by being obliged to yield to others. Many are even then
taught their true place by these practical lessons of life. Through
rebuffs, disappointments, and plain language from their superiors, they
often find their true level and are humbled to understand and accept
their proper place. But this is a severe and unnecessary ordeal for them
[181]
to pass through and could have been prevented by proper training in
their youth.
The majority of these ill-disciplined ones go through life at cross-
purposes with the world, making a failure where they should have
succeeded. They grow to feel that the world owes them a grudge
because it does not flatter and caress them, and they take revenge by
holding a grudge against the world and bidding it defiance. Circum-
stances sometimes oblige them to affect a humility they do not feel;
but it does not fit them with a natural grace, and their true characters
are sure to be exposed sooner or later....
Why will parents educate their children in such a manner that they
will be at war with those who are brought in contact with them
By Training as Devotees of Society—Children are not to be
trained to be the devotees of society. They are not to be sacrificed to
15
Manuscript 119, 1901
.
16
Messages to Young People, 373, 374
.
17
Testimonies For The Church 1:393
.
18
Testimonies For The Church 4:201, 202
.