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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jan 21, 1915

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 92, No. 4.

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For Parents

By PHENA MOREY

PHENA MOREY
From what I have observed, and from my experience in bringing up children, I find that to make a child happy, thoughtful, and hopeful, we must talk of the beautiful. We must write upon the mind with indelible ink, as it were, Col. 3:8: “But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.” If we follow this counsel, our children will grow up pure-minded and sincere.
We must not only live carefully, but we must speak kindly at the table, around the fireside, when we sit down, and when we rise up.
When our older boy was small, I was determined that the shows, the girl question, etc., should not be brought to his attention; so when a show was advertised in town, he knew nothing of it. He could not read then, and I kept him at home. It was not mentioned in the family; so it was all blank to him. We went to see the animals parade when he was older, but that was as much as he knew of the show.
Instead of talking about which girl was his, etc., we discarded such conversation altogether. Such thoughts will come soon enough without parents’ continually bringing them before their children.
There are enough good, lovely, honest, and true traits of character to look at; and if not, why look at all? See 2 Cor. 3:18. Your influence does not stop with your own children, but they talk to their associates on the subjects they hear in their home. It is like throwing a pebble into the water — one ripple, and then another, and still another, until the last ripple widens out beyond our vision.
“It is the work of parents to train their children to proper habits of speech: . . . They should be taught that only words of gentleness, truth, and purity must pass their lips. . . . Then by precept and example they can teach their children the use of ‘sound speech, that cannot be condemned.’ This is one of the greatest and most responsible of their duties.”—“Christ’s Object Lessons,” pages 337, 338.
Wichita, Kans.