Evil Influences Almost Overpowering. --The evil influence around our children
is almost overpowering; it is corrupting their minds and leading them down to
perdition. The minds of youth are naturally given to folly; and at an early age,
before their characters are formed and their judgement matured, they frequently
manifest a preference for associates who will have an injurious influence over
them.
Could my voice reach the parents all through the land, I would warn them not
to yield to the desires of their children in choosing their companions or
associates. Little do parents consider that injurious impressions are far more
readily received by the young than are divine impressions; therefore their
associations should be the most favourable for the growth of grace and for the
truth revealed in the word of God to be established in the heart.
Let the youth be placed in the most favourable circumstances possible; for
the company they keep, the principles they adopt, the habits they form, will
settle the question of their usefulness here and of their future, eternal
interests with a certainty that is infallible.
The Peril of Unlimited Freedom. --Parents, your sons and daughters are not
properly guarded. They should never be permitted to go and come when they
please, without your knowledge and consent. The unbounded freedom granted to
children at this age has proved the ruin of thousands. How many are allowed to be in the streets at night, and parents are content to be ignorant of the
associates of their children. Too often companions are chosen whose influence
tends only to demoralize.
Under the cover of darkness boys collect in groups to learn their first
lessons in card playing, gambling, smoking, and wine or beer sipping. The sons
of religious parents venture into the saloons for an oyster supper or some
similar indulgence, and thus place themselves in the way of temptation. The very
atmosphere of these resorts is redolent with blasphemy and pollution. No one can
long remain in it without becoming corrupted. It is by such associations that
promising youth are becoming inebriates and criminals. The very beginnings of
the evil should be guarded against. Parents, unless you know that their
surroundings are unexceptionable, do not permit your children to go into the
streets after nightfall to engage in outdoor sports or to meet other boys for
amusement. If this rule be rigidly enforced, obedience to it will become
habitual, and the desire to transgress will soon cease.
Parents Must Choose the Child's Associates. -- Parents should remember that
association with those of lax morals and coarseness of character will have a
detrimental influence upon the youth. If they fail to choose proper society for
their children, if they allow them to associate with youth of questionable
morals, they place them, or permit them to place themselves, in a school where
lessons of depravity are taught and practised. They may feel that their children
are strong enough to withstand temptation, but how can they be sure of this? It
is far easier to yield to evil influences than to resist them. Ere they are
aware of it, their children may become imbued with the spirit of their associates and may be degraded or
ruined.
The dangers of the young are greatly increased as they are thrown into the
society of a large number of their own age, of varied character and habits of
life. Under these circumstances many parents are inclined to relax rather than
redouble their own efforts to guard and control their children.
Prayerfully, unitedly, the father and the mother should bear the grave
responsibility of guiding their children aright. Whatever else they neglect,
they should never leave their children free to wander in paths of sin. Many
parents allow children to go and do as they please, amusing themselves and
choosing evil associates. In the judgement such parents will learn that their
children have lost heaven because they have not been kept under home restraint.
Where Are the Evenings Spent? --Every son and daughter should be called to
account if absent from home at night. Parents should know what company their
children are in and at whose house they spend their evenings. Some children
deceive their parents with falsehoods to avoid exposure of their wrong course.
Weeds Predominate in an Uncultivated Field. -- Fathers and mothers too often
leave their children to choose for themselves their amusements, their
companions, and their occupation. The result is such as might reasonably be
expected. Leave a field uncultivated, and it will grow up to thorns and briers.
You will never see a lovely flower or a choice shrub peering above the
unsightly, poisonous weeds. The worthless bramble will grow luxuriantly without
thought or care, while plants that are valued for use or beauty require thorough culture. Thus it is with
our youth. If right habits are formed and right principles established, there is
earnest work to be done. If wrong habits are corrected, diligence and
perseverance are required to accomplish the task.
Accustom Child to Trust Parents' Judgement. -- Parents, guard the principles
and habits of your children as the apple of the eye. Allow them to associate
with no one with whose character you are not well acquainted. Permit them to
form no intimacy until you are assured that it will do them no harm. Accustom
your children to trust your judgement and experience. Teach them that you have
clearer perception of character than they in their inexperience can have, and
that your decisions must not be disregarded.
The Restraint to Be Firm, but Kind. --The parents should not concede to the
inclinations of their children, but should follow the plain path of duty which
God has marked out, restraining them in kindness, denying with firmness and
determination, yet with love, their wrong desires, and with earnest, prayerful,
persevering effort leading their steps away from the world upward to heaven.
Children should not be left to drift into whatever way they are inclined, and to
go into avenues which are open on every side, leading away from the right path.
None are in so great danger as those who apprehend no danger and are impatient
of caution and counsel.
Guard your children from every objectionable influence possible; for in
childhood they are more ready to receive impressions, either of moral dignity,
purity, and loveliness of character, or of selfishness, impurity, and
disobedience. Once let them become influenced by the spirit of murmuring, pride, vanity, and impurity, and the taint may be as
indelible as life itself.
It is because the home training is defective that the youth are so unwilling
to submit to proper authority. I am a mother; I know whereof I speak when I say
that youth and children are not only safer but happier under wholesome restraint
than when following their own inclination.
Unaccompanied Visits Inadvisable. --Some parents mistake in giving their
children too much liberty. They sometimes have so much confidence in them that
they do not see their faults. It is wrong to allow children, at some expense, to
visit at a distance, unaccompanied by their parents or guardians. It has a wrong
influence upon the children. They come to feel that they are of considerable
consequence and that certain privileges belong to them, and if these are not
granted, they think themselves abused. They refer to children who go and come
and have many privileges, while they have so few.
And the mother, fearing that her children will think her unjust, gratifies
their wishes, which in the end proves a great injury to them. Young visitors,
who have not a parent's watchful eye over them to see and correct their faults,
often receive impressions which it will take months to remove.
Unwise Advice and How to Meet It. --Keep your children at their home; and if
people say to you, "Your children will not know how to conduct themselves
in the world," tell your friends that you are not so concerned about that
matter, but that you do want to take them to the Master for His blessing, even
as the mothers of old took their children to Jesus. Say to your advisers:
Children are the heritage of the Lord, and I want to prove faithful to my trust. . . .
My children must be brought up in such a way that they shall not be swayed by
the influences of the world, but where, when tempted to sin, they may be able to
say a square, hearty no ." . . .Tell your friends and neighbours that you
want to see your family inside the gates of the beautiful city.
Powerful Tests Are Before Our Youth. --Children should be trained and
educated so that they may calculate to meet with difficulties and expect
temptations and dangers. They should be taught to have control over themselves
and to nobly overcome difficulties; and if they do not willfully rush into
danger and needlessly place themselves in the way of temptation, if they avoid
evil influences and vicious society, and then are unavoidably compelled to be in
dangerous company, they will have strength of character to stand for the right
and preserve principle and will come forth in the strength of God with their
morals untainted. The moral powers of youth who have been properly educated, if
they make God their trust, will be equal to stand the most powerful test.