Let the Children Help

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Apr 28, 1904

Let the Children Help

“How can the mother of eight children look so young?” asked a friend who found her time fully occupied in caring for her little ones. The lady in question was a fair-faced matron of forty-five, who looked at least five years younger.

“She teaches the children to help almost as soon as they can walk,” was the reply, and this was the secret of her management.

A mother should not be a slave to her children; for it makes them selfish and exacting. Laziness is almost a crime in this busy world, and if the mother will teach them to bear their part of the burden of housekeeping early in life, it will develop industrious habits, and they will always like to work. It also teaches them to appreciate her and her work for them as they never will do if they know nothing about it. Look around you and see what mothers are loved and honored most in their old age; almost invariably it is those whose children have been taught to work, instead of those who have willingly made drudges of themselves to spare the children.—Selected.