Testimonies for the Church Vol 1 - Lansing SDA Church

Parents and Children 363the same. At times they are somewhat prepared to meet changeablemoods, and at other times they are nervous and fretful, and cannot bearcensure. Their spirit rises up in rebellion against it. Parents want alldue allowance made for their state of mind, yet do not always see thenecessity of making the same allowance for their poor children. Theyexcuse in themselves that which, if seen in their children who have nottheir years of experience and discipline, they would highly censure.Some parents are of a nervous temperament, and when fatigued withlabor or oppressed with care, they do not preserve a calm state ofmind, but manifest to those who should be dearest to them on earth, afretfulness and lack of forbearance which displeases God and bringsa cloud over the family. Children, in their troubles, should often besoothed with tender sympathy. Mutual kindness and forbearance willmake home a paradise and attract holy angels into the family circle. [387]The mother can and should do much toward controlling her nervesand mind when depressed; even when she is sick, she can, if she onlyschools herself, be pleasant and cheerful, and can bear more noisethan she would once have thought possible. She should not make thechildren feel her infirmities and cloud their young, sensitive mindsby her depression of spirits, causing them to feel that the house is atomb and the mother’s room the most dismal place in the world. Themind and nerves gain tone and strength by the exercise of the will.The power of the will in many cases will prove a potent soother of thenerves.Do not let your children see you with a clouded brow. If they yieldto temptation, and afterward see and repent of their error, forgive themjust as freely as you hope to be forgiven by your Father in heaven.Kindly instruct them, and bind them to your hearts. It is a criticaltime for children. Influences will be thrown around them to weanthem from you, which you must counteract. Teach them to make youtheir confidant. Let them whisper in your ear their trials and joys. Byencouraging this, you will save them from many a snare that Satan hasprepared for their inexperienced feet. Do not treat your children onlywith sternness, forgetting your own childhood, and forgetting that theyare but children. Do not expect them to be perfect or try to make themmen and women in their acts at once. By so doing, you will close thedoor of access which you might otherwise have to them, and will drive