174
Child Guidance
discipline is to begin. This may be called an unconscious education. It
is then that a work, conscious and powerful, is to begin. The greatest
burden of this work necessarily rests on the mother. She has the first
care of the child, and she is to lay the foundation of an education that
will help the child to develop a strong, symmetrical character....
Frequently mere babies show a most determined will. If this will
is not brought into subjection to a wiser authority than the child’s
untrained desires, Satan takes control of the mind and fashions the
disposition in harmony with his will
Neglecting the work of disciplining and training until a perverse
disposition has become strengthened is doing the children a most
serious wrong; for they grow up selfish, exacting, and unlovable. They
cannot enjoy their own company any better than can others; therefore
they will ever be filled with discontent. The work of the mother must
commence at an early age, giving Satan no chance to control the minds
and dispositions of their little ones
Repress First Appearance of Evil—Parents, you should com-
mence your first lesson of discipline when your children are babes in
your arms. Teach them to yield their will to yours. This can be done
by bearing an even hand and manifesting firmness. Parents should
have perfect control over their own spirits and, with mildness and yet
firmness, bend the will of the child until it shall expect nothing else
but to yield to their wishes.
[231]
Parents do not commence in season. The first manifestation of
temper is not subdued, and the children grow stubborn, which increases
with their growth and strengthens with their strength
“Too Young to Punish?”—Eli did not manage his household
according to God’s rules for family government. He followed his
own judgment. The fond father overlooked the faults and sins of his
sons in their childhood, flattering himself that after a time they would
outgrow their evil tendencies. Many are now making a similar mistake.
They think they know a better way of training their children than that
which God has given in His Word. They foster wrong tendencies in
them, urging as an excuse, “They are too young to be punished. Wait
till they become older and can be reasoned with.” Thus wrong habits
5
Letter 9, 1904
.
6
Manuscript 43, 1900
.
7
Testimonies For The Church 1:218
.