The Family as an Educational Agency
NP
1910
This manuscript is published in entirety in PUR 08/18/1910.
In His wisdom the Lord has decreed that the family shall be the greatest of all educational agencies. The education of the child is to be begun in the home. In the home the child is to learn the lessons that are to guide it through life. From infancy lessons of honor and obedience to parents are to be taught. Never should their children be allowed to show them disrespect. Self-will and hasty words should not be allowed to go unrebuked. 25LtMs, Ms 69, 1910, par. 1
Parents should realize the sacredness of family discipline. They have been entrusted with a most important stewardship, a sacred charge. They are to make their family a symbol of the family in heaven, of which they hope to become members when their day of test and trial here below shall have ended. The children are to be taught to respect themselves, because they are the Lord’s property, bought with an infinite price. 25LtMs, Ms 69, 1910, par. 2
The influence exerted in the home must be Christlike. This is the most effective ministration in the character building of the child. The words spoken are to be pleasant. No boisterous, arbitrary, masterful spirit is to be allowed to come into the family. Every member is to be taught that he is to prepare to be a member of the royal family. 25LtMs, Ms 69, 1910, par. 3
The father and the mother are to place themselves decidedly on the Lord’s side. It is their privilege to bring light and joy and peace into the home circle. They are to exert an influence which shows that they are guided and controlled by the principles of heaven. They are to draw in even cords. Their every act is to be in harmony with heaven. 25LtMs, Ms 69, 1910, par. 4
The parents in the home and the teacher in the school are to co-operate. The instruction given the child in the home is to be such as will help the teacher. In the home the child is to be taught the importance of neatness, order, and thoroughness, and these lessons are to be repeated in the school. 25LtMs, Ms 69, 1910, par. 5
Our schools are to be built up. They are to be as the schools of the prophets. We are to expect that angels of God will be the helpers of the teachers in all the service that is done to the glory of God. But the child’s first school is the home. There it is to learn lessons of the highest importance. 25LtMs, Ms 69, 1910, par. 6
Parents, remember that your home is a training school, in which your children are to be prepared for the home above. Deny them anything rather than the education that they should receive in their earliest years. Allow no word of pettishness. Teach your children to be kind and patient. Teach them to be thoughtful of others. Thus you are preparing them for higher ministry in religious things. 25LtMs, Ms 69, 1910, par. 7
The history of every one is written in the books of heaven, that all may know that their reward or punishment is according to their works—their service in this life. Let parents remember that every day makes part of their history and that no neglect must be permitted in the home; because they cannot know how soon sickness and death may come to them or to their children. 25LtMs, Ms 69, 1910, par. 8
In the home church children are to learn to pray and to trust in God. They are to learn that they are to prepare to become members of the family of heaven, and that they must, therefore, be kind and dutiful to their parents, faithfully respecting their wishes. 25LtMs, Ms 69, 1910, par. 9
The father and the mother should work together, in full sympathy with each other. They should make themselves companions to their children. 25LtMs, Ms 69, 1910, par. 10
When children reach a suitable age, they should be provided with tools. If their work is made interesting, they will be found apt pupils in the use of tools. If the father is a carpenter, he should give his boys lessons in house building, ever bringing into his instruction lessons from the Bible, the words of Scripture in which the Lord compares human beings to His building. 25LtMs, Ms 69, 1910, par. 11
As much as possible, let the homes of our people be out of the cities, that the children may have ground to cultivate. It is well to let each have a piece of ground as his own. As you teach them how to prepare a garden, how to prepare the soil for the seed, and the importance of keeping the garden free from weeds, teach them how important it is to keep unsightly, injurious practices out of the life. Teach them to keep down wrong habits as they keep down the weeds in their gardens. It will take time to teach these lessons, but it will pay, yes, greatly pay. God demands of parents a faithful study of His word and a determined effort to make a success of the church in the home. Then parents with their converted children—the result of their obedience to God—can carry into the church their self-denial and sacrifice and their spiritual strength. 25LtMs, Ms 69, 1910, par. 12