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Be Sparing of Don'ts

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 12, 1916

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 93, No. 51.

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Be Sparing of Don'ts

By Anna L. Patterson

ANNA L. PATTERSON
“Mamma, I wish naughty was good, and good was naughty,” said Lorcina one day.
“Why do you wish such a thing as that, daughter?”
“Then I could be good all the time,” was the unexpected reply.
It dawned upon that mother that she had formed a habit of chiding and reproving her little girl for the many naughty things she did, without helping and instructing her to do the things she should, and that if she had spent more time in finding useful employment for her child, she would not have needed to censure her so often for her misdeeds.
Often Lorcina heard her mother say, “Don’t do that,” “You mustn’t do this, it is naughty;” but rarely did she tell her the things she could do. It is as natural for us to do “naughty” things as for the sparks to fly upward; so naturally the uninstructed child found herself invariably inclined to do the things that mother called by that term.
Many mothers make the mistake of constantly chiding and scolding the children for their misdeeds, when the same time spent in training them in wholesome and useful employment would lessen the inclination to evil, and the heart of mother and child would be bound together with a purpose to do that which is right.