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Child Guidance
the discipline of God. Christ will be victor in the lives of your children
if you will learn of Him who is meek and lowly, pure and undefiled
But if you attempt to govern without exercising self-control, with-
out system, thought, and prayer, you will most assuredly reap the bitter
consequences
Never Correct in Anger—You should correct your children in
love. Do not let them have their own way until you get angry, and
then punish them. Such correction only helps on the evil, instead of
remedying it
To manifest passion toward an erring child is to increase the evil.
It arouses the worst passions of the child and leads him to feel that you
do not care for him. He reasons with himself that you could not treat
him so if you cared.
And think you that God takes no cognizance of the way in which
these children are corrected? He knows, and He knows also what
might be the blessed results if the work of correction were done in a
way to win rather than to repel....
Do not, I beg of you, correct your children in anger. That is the
time of all times when you should act with humility and patience and
prayer. Then is the time to kneel down with the children and ask the
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Lord for pardon. Seek to win them to Christ by the manifestation of
kindness and love, and you will see that a higher power than that of
earth is co-operating with your efforts
When you are obliged to correct a child, do not raise the voice to
a high key.... Do not lose your self-control. The parent who, when
correcting a child, gives way to anger is more at fault than the child
Scolding and Fretting Never Help—Harsh, angry words are not
of heavenly origin. Scolding and fretting never help. Instead, they
stir up the worst feelings of the human heart. When your children do
wrong and are filled with rebellion, and you are tempted to speak and
act harshly, wait before you correct them. Give them an opportunity
to think, and allow your temper to cool.
4
Letter 272, 1903
.
5
The Signs of the Times, February 9, 1882
.
6
The Review and Herald, September 19, 1854
.
7
Manuscript 53, 1912
.
8
The Signs of the Times, February 17, 1904
.