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Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students
parents should not be loaded down with food containing condiments
and spices.
There are but few among the young who have any definite knowl-
edge of the mysteries of life. The study of the wonderful human
organism, the relation and dependence of all its complicated parts,
is one in which most mothers take little if any interest. They do not
understand the influence of the body upon the mind or of the mind
upon the body. They occupy themselves with needless trifles and
then plead that they have no time to obtain the information which
they need in order to care properly for the health of their children. It
is less trouble to trust them to the doctors. Thousands of children die
through the ignorance of their parents regarding the laws of hygiene.
If parents themselves would obtain knowledge upon this subject
and feel the importance of putting it to a practical use, we should
see a better condition of things. Teach your children to reason from
cause to effect. Show them that if they violate the laws of their being
they must pay the penalty in suffering. If you cannot see as rapid
improvement as you desire, do not be discouraged, but instruct them
patiently and press on until victory is gained. Recklessness in regard
to bodily health tends to recklessness in morals.
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Do not neglect to teach your children how to prepare wholesome
food. In giving them these lessons in physiology and in good cook-
ing, you are teaching them the first steps in some of the most useful
branches of education and inculcating principles which are needful
elements in their religious life.
Teach your children from the cradle to practice self-denial and
self-control. Teach them to enjoy the beauties of nature, and in
useful employment to exercise all the powers of mind and body.
Bring them up to have sound constitutions and good morals, to have
sunny dispositions and sweet tempers. Teach them that to yield to
temptation is weak and wicked; to resist is noble and manly.
Let all, both old and young, give diligent heed to the words
penned by the wise man three thousand years ago: “My son, forget
not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: for length
of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee. Let not
mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them
upon the table of thine heart: so shalt thou find favor and good
understanding in the sight of God and man.”
Proverbs 3:1-4
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