PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY.
By R. C. Baker
Parents and guardians, I address myself especially to you. Occupying the same responsible position, and having the same tender and anxious feeling of solicitude for the little ones intrusted to my care, I may, perhaps, be pardoned for offering a few thoughts for our mutual consideration. Not that I feel myself competent to give advice, far from it, but I feel a deep interest in the topic before us, and would like to call the attention of others to the subject, whose judgment and experience would be valuable. It is my solemn conviction, that parents in general among us, are remiss in their duty to their children. And here I would plead guilty with the rest. As infants, we treat them more like playthings, formed for our diversion, than human beings intrusted to our care, to be trained for life or death, to be saved or lost. We seem to forget many times that evil grows spontaneously, while the good needs constant care and cultivation to make it flourish. We should not aim merely at outward propriety of conduct; we should restrain and guide, but not crush the warm outgushings of the young heart. God forbid that home should be a prison to our children, that we should consider it beneath our dignity to interest ourselves in their little joys and sorrows, and thus bind them to our hearts. Home should be the dearest and most desirable place in the world to them, and the father and mother the dearest earthly friends. Parents should so accommodate themselves to the limited capacities of their children, that they can be happy in their society. How often is the thirst for knowledge manifested by the inquisitive child, discouraged by fretful, impatient chidings! I have seen parents provoked by the lack of judgment and discrimination manifested by their children whose minds were uninformed. How much easier to hush them with a few impatient words than to stop and patiently explain the perplexing subject, and encourage them to use more wisdom another time. If our temporal affairs suffer a little neglect, I think it would be better than to altogether ignore the spiritual and intellectual wants of our children. Mothers, the care of the house, and providing for physical necessities is not of more importance than the cultivation of our children’s higher natures. We call parents or guardians cruel who carelessly neglect the physical wants of their young charges, but are not we equally guilty when we starve the minds and souls of ours? Even upon the Sabbath we are many times too weary or too indolent to make the day both pleasant and profitable to the little ones. If we were as anxious about the eternal welfare of our children, as we are careful and troubled about our earthly cares, what we shall eat and drink, and wherewithal we shall be clothed, I believe we would exert a more saving influence over them. May God awaken us to a sense of our responsibility, and while we restrain all evil habits and improprieties, may we impress their tender minds with a love of the true, the good, the pure, and their obligations to love and serve their Creator. May none of us feel that this is a matter of secondary importance. We cannot shift this responsibility upon ministers and teachers without imperiling our own souls, as well as the souls of our children. The practice of many mothers of sending their innocent children, at a very tender age, to school, to “get them out of the way,” and exposing them to that vast under-current of corruption which has deluged the land, before they have strength of mind to know good from evil, I consider most dangerous and culpable. The mere theory of the truth will do us no good. It must be exemplified in our daily lives; and what holier, nobler work can we engage in than in laboring for the salvation of our offspring? Will not God hold us accountable if we neglect the precious trust? For one, I desire to double my diligence in this direction, and be more faithful and exemplary. As far as my experience goes, I can say, that when I enjoy most of the melting, subduing influence of the Spirit of God in my own heart, then I exert the strongest influence over my children. I am convinced that religion or good sense cannot be scolded or thumped into children. Not that I am opposed to salutary correction when necessary, but let us see to it that we rule our own spirits. If we cannot govern ourselves, we are poorly qualified to govern others. I do not think chastisement should be administered for every trifling error. As God has been merciful and long-suffering to our many backslidings, our stubbornness and rebellion, so let us be merciful and compassionate, while we help them to overcome. Oh! that the lovely mind and character of Jesus might be so reflected in us, that our children might be constrained to love and choose the ways of virtue and truth.