A Plea for the Babies by Mrs. Alma H. Fisk

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Sep 17, 1885

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 11, No. 36.

A Plea for the Babies.

By Mrs. Alma H. Fisk

AN eminent physician, upon being asked how early a child's training should begin, replied: "With the first moment of life." Another, whose observation of children has been very large, says: "The habits formed during the first three weeks of life exert a controlling influence over the whole period of infancy." There is both philosophy and sound sense in these statements. If their truth and wisdom could be realized by all mothers, how much of the anxious care of later years might be avoided, and how much more of success and happiness might be secured for their children. There seems to be a strange delusion, even among sensible people, about this matter of educating children. Ten-year-old Jennie must, of course, be obedient, polite, and thoughtful; the same conduct is expected from six-year-old Harry; but surely obedience cannot be expected from the winsome little two-year-old, the baby.

Yes, dear, doubting mother-heart, expect just that, not in the same degree, but still obedience. Sit down in the home nest, and watch this wee birdling as she flits about, gladdening every home with her dainty ways, and sweet baby talk; all is well till your will conflicts with hers, then behold a transformation; the clouded face, the pouting lips, the defiant attitude, all reveal to you the existence of a distinct individuality in this little baby form. She is your baby, but she is not you; she has her will, her tastes, her strong points and her weak ones, just as certainly as you have. You cannot make her nature, but you can direct and control it, and thus secure the highest good for her future life. "Sow an act and you reap a habit." Teach the little ones the act of obedience, and it soon becomes a habit; teach them from the first to be polite and tidy, and stubborn, dirty-faced, sticky-fingered children will seldom annoy us. An intelligent, well-bred childhood ought not to be looked for after an untrained, willful babyhood.

Canon Farrer says: "Sacrifice is fruitful, and there is nothing fruitful else." All true motherhood, as all noble life, must sacrifice, but the reward is ample.

It takes time to talk with children about the pictures they study so intently; it takes money to buy them, and many parents think they cannot afford to spend so much on mere picture-books, but when it is a question of sashes and jewelry there is less hesitation. Many a child, whose body is bedecked with pinchbeck, and hampered by the "best dress," which mus'n't be wrinkled or soiled, is dwarfed mentally for lack of just such entertainment as well chosen picture-books give.

Fathers and mothers, don't economize in the wrong place; buy the little ones picture-books, not highly colored daubs, but good, truthful representations of animal and domestic life such as they can comprehend, such as will interest and, at the same time, teach them. In this artistic age no child need lack for such. The investment will be a good one, and pay abundant interest in the quickness of observation and the refining influence thus developed.

The hope of the world's future lies with the children of to-day, but it will be an unrealized hope, unless there is wise parental instruction, and a well educated youth.

Mothers, love your babies, thank God for them, but do not forget to teach them. Childhood is the best time for the acquisition of knowledge, for then the brain is most active, and the memory most retentive, the impressions then made leave an indelible stamp upon maturer years; the habits then formed are never quite effaced, no matter what after life may be. The child allowed to use such expressions as "ain't" "had ought," and the like through the first half-dozen years, will, more likely than not, continue to use them through life, even though a classical graduate. If good seed is sown on the fertile soil of a child's heart, a bountiful harvest may be hoped for. "Sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny."—Mrs. Alma H. Fisk, in Christian at Work.