Home Discipline by C. M. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 2, 1906

Home Discipline

By C. M. S.

C. M. S.

There is perhaps no duty of the parent that is at times more perplexing than the matter of discipline in the home; and while it is so often a matter of perplexity, it is also a matter of the utmost importance. Were it an unimportant matter, it would not have received the attention it has in the Word of God. The admonition to “train up a child in the way he should go” presupposes that the one who is to do the training should know what that way is. It presupposes a wisdom on the part of the parent that is not drawn wholly from human sources. The disciplining of the child should go hand in hand with a study of the Word upon the matter of the relation of parent and child. The parents who make such a study will not be found indulging in a burst of passion, especially in the presence of the children; for such an act on the part of a parent is one of the most forceful kinds of training there is. The training by example is the training most sure to be effective. To set such an example is to train a child in the way he ought not to go.

Thus it is seen that the training of the child begins best and most effectively when it begins with that child’s parent. Never let anger, hatred, malice, envy, or jealousy manifest itself in word or tone or expression of the face. As surely as it does, the child will copy it, and take the same means of expressing it. What he sees you do he will intuitively do, especially if that is something that were better left undone. Of precept and example the latter has the greatest training influence. In any controversy between precept and example the latter always finds the greatest number of followers. He who would discipline his children aright must first discipline himself in harmony with the God-given standard. What he wishes to work out in their lives he must work out in his own, so that it will show out in the life he lives before them. It will never do to have his example contradict his teaching; for the words of one’s example are much louder than the words of his teaching, and attract much more attention. To discipline is the parent’s duty; but it must not all be done upon the child.