Teaching Self-Government by Mrs. D. A. Fitch

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 23, 1915

Teaching Self-Government

By Mrs. D. A. Fitch

MRS. D. A. FITCH

Does it make a child honest or less meddlesome to hide from him the thing he covets, or to put it out of his reach?

Edward had been told many times that he was not to go to the shop. Having never been taught self-control, he did not obey. Then the door was locked to keep him in, but he learned to unlock it. A fastener was put on so high he could not reach it, but what boy could not overcome this difficulty? Soon he had mastered the fastener, and would triumphantly march to his father’s shop. Dainties and other things he ought to leave alone were hidden. Did he secure them?—Almost invariably. Did he grow up to be a man of self-control?—By no means.

Quite a different course was taken with his little cousin. When just a baby, she would creep to the water pail to play in it. The pail was not put out of her reach, but she was taught to stay away from it. She delighted in picking the plaster from a place where it was broken. Did her mother paste paper or cloth over it, or set a piece of furniture against it?—No. A little discipline sufficed to teach the child it was best to keep a proper distance from the spot. When once instructed that fire would burn, she was allowed to play with the stove until her burned fingers served as a reminder that mamma was right in her requirements.

Judiciously to permit children to have their own way often teaches them lessons of obedience, as well as of respect for the judgment of their parents.