Cheerfulness

The mother should cultivate a cheerful, contented, happy disposition. Every effort in this direction will be abundantly repaid in both the physical well-being and the moral character of her children. A cheerful spirit will promote the happiness of her family and in a very great degree improve her own health.MHH 212.4

Let the husband aid his wife by his sympathy and unfailing affection. If he wishes to keep her fresh and happy, so that she will be as sunshine in the home, let him help bear her burdens. His kindness and loving courtesy will be to her a precious encouragement, and the happiness he imparts will bring joy and peace to his own heart.MHH 212.5

The husband and father who is morose, selfish, and overbearing is not only unhappy himself, he casts gloom upon all who live in his home. He will reap the result in seeing his wife dispirited and sickly, and his children marred with his own unlovely temper.MHH 212.6

If the mother is deprived of the care and comforts she should have, if she is allowed to exhaust her strength through overwork or through anxiety and gloom, her children will be robbed of the strength, mental adaptability, and cheerful buoyancy they should inherit. It will be far better to make the mother’s life bright and cheerful, to shield her from want, wearing labor, and depressing care, so that the children may inherit good constitutions and may battle their way through life with their own energetic strength.MHH 212.7

Great is the honor and responsibility placed upon fathers and mothers, in that they are to stand in the place of God to their children. Their character, their daily life, their methods of training will interpret His words to the little ones. Their influence will win or repel the child’s confidence in the Lord’s assurances.MHH 212.8