164
Child Guidance
The Fruits of Self-control—Parents, every time you lose self-
control and speak and act impatiently, you sin against God. The
recording angel writes every impatient, unguarded word spoken before
them, carelessly or in jest; every word that is not chaste and elevated,
he marks as a spot against your Christian character. Speak kindly to
your children. Remember how sensitive you are, how little you can
bear to be blamed, and do not lay upon them that which you cannot
bear; for they are weaker than you and cannot endure as much. The
fruits of self-control, thoughtfulness, and painstaking on your part will
be a hundredfold.
Let your pleasant, cheerful words ever be like sunbeams in your
family
If parents desire their children to be right and do right, they must
be right themselves in theory and in practice
[218]
Children Are Influenced by Deportment of Professing Chris-
tians—There are children of Sabbathkeepers who have been taught
from their youth to observe the Sabbath. Some of these are very good
children, faithful to duty as far as temporal matters are concerned; but
they feel no deep conviction of sin and no need of repentance from sin.
Such are in a dangerous condition. They are watching the deportment
and efforts of professed Christians. They see some who make high
professions, but who are not conscientious Christians, and they com-
pare their own views and actions with these stumbling blocks; and as
there are no outbreaking sins in their own lives, they flatter themselves
that they are about right
It is because so many parents and teachers profess to believe the
Word of God while their lives deny its power, that the teaching of
Scripture has no greater effect upon the youth. At times the youth are
brought to feel the power of the Word. They see the preciousness of the
love of Christ. They see the beauty of His character, the possibilities
of a life given to His service. But in contrast they see the life of those
who profess to revere God’s precepts
Parents Must Say “No” to Temptation—Mothers, by not fol-
lowing the practices of the world, you may set before your children an
9
The Signs of the Times, April 10, 1884
.
10
Good Health, January, 1880
.
11
Testimonies For The Church 4:40
.
12
Education, 259
.