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Child Guidance
How important, then, that the minds of parents should be as free
as possible from perplexing, wearing care in needless things, that they
may think and act with calm consideration, wisdom, and love, making
the physical and moral health of their children the first and highest
consideration
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Parents wonder that children are so much more difficult to control
than they used to be, when in most cases their own criminal manage-
ment has made them so. The quality of food they bring upon their
tables and encourage their children to eat is constantly exciting their
animal passions and weakening the moral and intellectual faculties
Pure Food for the Mind Is Essential—Educate the faculties and
tastes of your dear ones; seek to preoccupy their minds, so that there
shall be no place for low, debasing thoughts or indulgences. The grace
of Christ is the only antidote or preventive of evil. You may choose,
if you will, whether the minds of your children shall be occupied
with pure, uncorrupted thoughts or with the evils that are existing
everywhere—pride and forgetfulness of their Redeemer. The mind,
like the body, must have pure food in order to have health and strength.
Give your children something to think of that is out of and above
themselves. The mind that lives in a pure, holy atmosphere will not
become trifling, frivolous, vain, and selfish
We are living in a time when everything that is false and superficial
is exalted above the real, the natural, and the enduring. The mind must
be kept free from everything that would lead it in a wrong direction.
It should not be encumbered with trashy stories, which do not add
strength to the mental powers. The thoughts will be of the same
character as the food we provide for the mind
A Brilliant Intellect Is Not Sufficient—You may be pleased with
the brilliant intellect of your child; but unless it is under the control of
a sanctified heart, it will work at cross-purposes with God. Nothing
but a high sense of the claims of God upon us can give us the proper
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stability of character, penetration of mind, and depth of understanding
essential to success, both in this world and in the world to come
12
Health Reformer, December, 1872
.
13
Pacific Health Journal, October, 1897
.
14
Letter 27, 1890
.
15
Testimonies For The Church 5:544
.
16
The Review and Herald, April 23, 1889
.