If the Coat Fits, Put It On
By Mrs. M. C. Warner
How shall we teach our children to be truthful?—By being truthful ourselves. This is the first and most important step. “But,” says one mother, “I am truthful. What do you mean?” What do I mean? You shall see: A lady called upon a friend who had a little girl about two years old. After the call was over, and the lady was putting on her wraps to go, the child put its tiny hand into the coat pocket. The mother exclaimed, “No! no! Anna, you mustn’t put your hand into the pocket. Something will bite you. Would you like to put your hand into the pocket and have a little mouse bite you?” The lady took the child’s hands in hers, looked into her little face, and said, “There is nothing in the pocket, dearie, that will bite you.” “Well,” the mother replied, “she mustn’t do it. Her father lets her feel in his pockets, but she must let others alone. She is not too small to learn.” True, she was not too small to learn, and was taking her first lessons in untruthfulness from mother’s own lips. Do you see now what I mean? Can we not look over the past and see where we have done the very same thing? What is the effect on older children? Will such a course tend to increase their respect for us? A mother said to Sammie: “Sammie, if you do that again, I shall punish you.” In about five minutes Sammie was doing the same thing. The mother took no notice of it. A relative of the child said, quietly, “Sammie, don’t you remember mama said she would punish you if you did that again?” He laughed, and answered, “Yes, but she does not mean what she says.” The child recognizes, if we do not, that a lie has been told. Would it not be well for us to stop and ask, How many lies have I told my child? O mothers! let us seek God and be forgiven. Let us stop our threatening, and be perfectly truthful with our children, and it will help them to be truthful. “Let us deal with them decidedly, yet patiently, lovingly, pityingly, as Jesus has dealt” with us. “Be not discouraged; be not faint-hearted. Although you may have temptations, although you may be beset by the wily foe, yet if you have the fear of God before you, angels that excel in strength will be sent to your help, and you can be more than a match for the powers of darkness. Jesus lives.” Praise the Lord. Let him live in us, in the home.