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Peter’s Counsel to Parents
and self-control. If he is not instructed aright by his parents, Satan will
instruct him in evil through agencies that are most objectionable. How
important, then, is the school in the home! Here the character is first
shaped. Here the destiny of souls is often largely influenced. Even the
parents who are endeavoring to do their best have not a hundredth part
of the realization they should have of the value of a human soul.
Ideal instruction in home school
The school in the home should be a place where children are taught
that the eye of God is upon them, observing all that they do. If this
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thought were deeply impressed upon the mind, the work of governing
children would be made much easier. In the home school our boys
and girls are being prepared to attend a church school when they
reach a proper age to associate more intimately with other children.
Constantly parents should keep this in view, realizing that their children
are God’s purchased little ones, to be trained for lives of usefulness
in the Master’s service and for a home in the future, eternal world.
The father and the mother, as teachers in the home school, should
consecrate hands, tongue, brain, and every power of the being to God,
in order that they may fulfill their high and holy mission.
Purity
To shield their children from contaminating influences, parents
should instruct them in principles of purity. Those who form the
habit of obedience and self-control in the homelife will have but little
difficulty in school life, and, if surrounded by Christian influences, will
escape many temptations that usually beset the youth. Let us train our
children so that they will remain true to God under all circumstances
and in all places. In their tender years let us surround them with
influences that will tend to strengthen character.
Parents who give their children proper instruction at home will
train them to obey their teachers at school. And, unless surrounded by
unusual circumstances, they will, in time, see the necessity of sending
their children to some school outside the home. This school may be
simply a church school, or it may be an intermediate school or a large
training school. I am pleased to learn that here in Southern California