Hints to Mothers | AdventAI

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 14, 1865

Hints to Mothers.

It is a pernicious practice, which prevails in some nurseries, of correcting every little error of the child by a hasty, angry blow. You can tell such children, by the way they have of continually dodging the head at every motion around them. Poor little ones, it is enough to make one's heart ache, to witness such marks of domestic tyranny. Nothing can tend more to undermine a mother's influence, and turn the sweet waters of her children's souls to bitterness. If an offense is serious enough for a blow, it is of enough importance to be deliberately and prayerfully punished. If you cannot command your own temper, you have no right to punish your child. Wait till you are cool yourself, or you are in no condition “to deal justly” with your child. God will bring you into judgment as surely for injustice to him, as to any one else you have dealings with. No parent can say, “It is my own child, and I can do what I please with him.” It is God's child, and his command to you is, “Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give thee wages.”

Any punishment which is administered in a way that simply “provokes your children to wrath,” will do nothing toward correcting evil habits and tempers. A single act of injustice to a child will do much to alienate the affections, and weaken the parent's authority. They will see only oppression afterward, in every act of discipline, even though it be just and reasonable.

Perhaps the majority of parents err on the side of too frequent punishment. It seems the easiest way of mending matters, it takes so much less time and trouble. But, O! mother, remember you are sowing for all time, and eternity too, and can you not afford to take trouble?

It is degrading to the mind to be kept constantly under the influence of penalties. Rewards are a far more wholesome and powerful stimulant.

Let love be the guiding star in your nursery, and you will find it a safe one to steer by. Over the desert wastes of life, your children's eyes will turn back gratefully to its pure, steady light, and gather strength and cheering for all the onward journey.—N. Y. Chronicle.