394
Child Guidance
made intensely interesting and profitable to very small children
Do not think that the Bible will become a tiresome book to the
children. Under a wise instructor the Word will become more and
more desirable. It will be to them as the bread of life; it will never
grow old. There is in it a freshness and beauty that attract and charm
the children and youth. It is like the sun shining upon the earth, giving
its brightness and warmth, yet never exhausted. By lessons from Bible
history and doctrine, the children and youth can learn that all other
books are inferior to this. They can find here a fountain of mercy and
love
Parents, let the instruction you give your children be simple, and
be sure that it is clearly understood. The lessons that you learn from
the Word you are to present to their young minds so plainly that they
cannot fail to understand. By simple lessons drawn from the Word of
God and their own experience, you may teach them how to conform
their lives to the highest standard. Even in childhood and youth they
may learn to live thoughtful, earnest lives that will yield a rich harvest
of good
Give Freshest Thought; Use Best Methods—Our heavenly Fa-
ther, in giving His Word, did not overlook the children. In all that men
have written, where can be found anything that has such a hold upon
the heart, anything so well adapted to awaken the interest of the little
ones, as the stories of the Bible?
In these simple stories may be made plain the great principles
of the law of God. Thus by illustrations best suited to the child’s
comprehension, parents and teachers may begin very early to fulfill
the Lord’s injunction concerning His precepts: “Thou shalt teach them
diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in
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thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest
down, and when thou risest up.”
Deuteronomy 6:7
.
The use of object lessons, blackboards, maps, and pictures will
be an aid in explaining these lessons and fixing them in the memory.
Parents and teachers should constantly seek for improved methods.
26
The Signs of the Times, April 8, 1886
.
27
Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 171
.
28
Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 109
.