Work and Recreation by ARTHUR W. SPAULDING

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Oct 31, 1912

Work and Recreation

By ARTHUR W. SPAULDING

Come, Let Us Live With Our Children—No. 5

Work and Recreation

ARTHUR W. SPAULDING

If we are to live with our children, then they must live with us. They and we must be in the same world. And that world, for every healthy man and woman, is a world of work. The most of us, instead of progressing, would be in damaging mischief if we did not have to work.

It is the business of God's people, to learn such self-control and self-impulsion that they can, in the new earth, be trusted with leisure for study and progress. And that lesson we have to teach our children.

Let our children work with us whenever possible. It is an easy thing to tell a boy to cultivate the garden, or a girl to wash dishes; but unless we work with them and teach them how, we shall find the best of them imperfect and blundering. The farmer or the gardener has the best chance to teach his children, letting them work with him in any job wherein they can be of help.

The lesson of responsibility is an important one. It is right for our children to feel some of the stern demands of life's necessities. They must be taught that he who will not work shall not eat. To teach this lesson, the father and the mother must themselves be consistently industrious. Give the children well-defined tasks, to be done at certain times: feeding the chickens, carrying in wood and water, washing dishes, sweeping and dusting, darning socks. Such of these tasks as permit must be done at a regular time; and it takes supervision and oftentimes, especially at the first, participation on the part of the parents to insure their being done promptly and well. Take the children with you into the garden, to prepare the ground, sow the seed, and cultivate the plants.

Do not ask too much of the child. That is a mistake that hard-working people often make. They overrate the ability and strength of the child, and set him to do too much; then when he gives out, he is either permitted to leave his work undone, or is forced unjustly to accomplish it. In the one case he grows slack and careless, in the other he is exhausted, and in both he learns to hate work. Suit the task to what you learn is the child's capacity for work. On the other hand, don't be too afraid to give him enough to do. A coddled child will never be master of himself or of circumstances. It is all right for the child to sweat and get roundly tired. Hard work is the corrective of many evils, physical and mental.

The chief secret of success in teaching the child to work is to rouse and feed his interest in the things he is doing. The garden is an excellent place for study of the appearance, the peculiarities, and the habits of growth of different plants, of insects, birds, and four-footed enemies and friends; and the reasons for the methods of culture used should be explained. There is an inexhaustible study in this work, and the children can be so taught that they would rather work in the garden, among the flowers and vegetables, than to occupy themselves with anything else. And so it can be in the care of animals, and in the house, if the furnishings, and therefore the work, be very simple.

But work with the children. When they have become fairly proficient in any one thing, they will take pride in the responsibility of doing it alone and submitting it for your inspection afterward. Inspection should not be neglected, for it is an incentive to good work, and is a means of teaching that God inspects all our work, our actions, and our thoughts.

It is to be emphasized that we must teach system. The family should work on a more or less elastic program. There should be a time to go to bed and a time to rise, a definite time for family worship and for meals. And in the doing of our work we must teach our children not to skip haphazard from one thing to another. Work where work is most needed, but begin at one end and finish clear through to the other. Feed and milk the cows at stated hours. Clear the kitchen, air and make the beds, and sweep, in a regular order every day. Make a study and devotional hour for every one, and adhere to it. It can be done, and it must be done if work and life are to be successful.

Now if you bring the child into your world, you must make some excursions into his. Play is the normal activity of the child, and how he does enjoy having papa and mama join him in it! You may be a little stiff in the joints and short of breath, but you can win back enough sprightliness to join in some romps. The romping games are better than the sedentary ones. Don't be a Puritan; it will not hurt your religion—it may make it more healthy—if you play blackman, or drop-the-handkerchief, or hide-and-seek, or a game of ball. But non-competitive games should be chosen rather than those that incite rivalry; for we can give our children no worse training than to strive to obtain the advantage of some one else.

Call your knowledge and experience into use in opening new channels of thought and expression to your children. Teach them to fly a kite, to whittle out a boat or a weather-vane, to make a water-wheel, to tie a dozen different kinds of knots, to knit and crochet, to make stools and steamers and Dutch boys in paper sloyd, and a hundred and one other things that you know. Remember your own childhood and what you liked to do, then teach your children. They will like games a thousand times better because they were learned from papa or mama; and what is more to the point, they will like you a thousand times better. It does your soul good to remember with what meek pride your little girl wore the daisy wreath you wove for her last Sabbath.

Plan outings now and then, quiet family picnics, or with a few friends. Do not let big crowds swallow your children often. A quiet day spent occasionally at the lakeside, or on the mountain-top, or in the woods, where the birds soar and sing, and the dragon-flies flash, the breezes blow, and the aspen leaves dance,—it will be worth your while; you can afford it. So, whether at work or at play, live with your children.

Hendersonville, N. C.