PARENTAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES.
By M. L. Dickson
I am the mother of three children, as active, mischievous, and lovable as any mother ever had; and they keep me constantly on the alert to keep acquainted with their ways and doings. Children in their teens seem to be the most difficult to manage of any age. If we have not implanted the good seed before they get in their teens, it is very hard indeed. The impressionable years are before they are ten, and we cannot begin too early. I have heard many sermons and much theorizing on the duties of parents to their children, but theories are not of much use, for there are no two children alike. They differ in disposition. Therefore what will answer for one, will not do for another. The mother who wishes to make a success of her training must study each child's nature and disposition, and her accountability to God for each child. The same training for a whole family will not do. There will be failure, for which the mother will be responsible. The home is her mission field, which God has given her to cultivate. It is as if He said, Take this child and train it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. We can never begin too soon to train our children in obedience. It is the foundation on which to build the child's character. The Scriptures have given us some old-fashioned pointers which cannot be improved upon, and which we would do well to follow literally. If we look to one another for counsel, we shall surely fail. We must not lean on the arm of flesh; rather let us go to the wisdom of God and be taught. Solomon says, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Prov. 22:6. Do we all believe that? I believe that God means every word of it, and I have faith to prove Him. I have believed that verse ever since I became a mother. We also read that “he that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.” Prov. 13:24. “Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying.” Prov. 19:18. We read also that555“foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.” Prov. 22:15. Then we have the example of Abraham, of whom God said, “For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord.” Gen. 18:19. Put that alongside of Prov. 22:6, and you have God’s immutable word for results. God is no respecter of persons; and if He could say that of Abraham, He could say it of any other parent who had Abraham’s faith. In the account of Eli is portrayed the over-indulgent, easy-going parent who rules his household with a slack hand. Eli, although warned, did not command his children. What a sad picture! What a sad breaking up of a home and a house! God says of Eli, “For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not. And therefore I have sworn unto the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering forever.” 1 Sam. 3:13, 14. These are solemn words, and should awaken us as parents to look well after our children. God will not excuse us if we rule our households with a slack hand. Let us, dear sisters who are mothers, take this solemn warning, and not thwart God’s will for our children. There is no work anywhere in God’s vineyard that brings such a rich reward. Let us pray and labor for the salvation of those precious souls He has intrusted to our care, and by a godly example lead them to Jesus, that we and our children may rejoice together in the kingdom of God.