Moral Training.
Man is an intellectual and a moral being. By his intellectual powers he gains a knowledge of facts. By his moral faculties he experiences a sense of responsibility and a feeling of certain relations existing between him and some higher power. Your child possesses an intuitive knowledge and upon this is where your moral training begins. The little brother knows it is wrong to injure his little sister. He does not have to acquire that knowledge, he knows it intuitively. This is the foundation for your moral training, and—of course—spiritual training naturally hinges upon this; but we shall speak of that in a separate chapter.
The wisest man that ever lived said, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Prov. 22:6. So many having failed, some have been almost persuaded to doubt this man's wisdom. The saying is true: the failures arise from the lack of understanding of how to train properly. All the moral principles sustain a close relation to each other; thus one moral principle influences another, therefore the violation of one principle makes it easier to violate a second, and the child is carried on until he can do wrong without any reproval of conscience.
Training should begin very early in the life of a child. Never allow this intuitive knowledge or the voice of conscience to be hushed by repeated wrong doing. [pg 272] The child who does wrong should be told why it is he feels a sense of guilt—God is displeased. Show him how one evil leads to another, and what will be the awful end. Call to his mind the differences in his feelings arising from wrong doing and right doing. With the one God is displeased, with the other he is pleased. The way then to be happy in life is to always do right.
You must be indefatigable in your efforts at training. Constant daily training is needed. As one wrong act makes it easier to do a second wrong act, so one right act makes it easier to do a second right act. It is comparatively easy for the child to fall into bad habits. Training, constant daily training is needed to keep the little one from evil ways. Lead him into right action. By repeating a right action it becomes easy to perform it. You must never think of becoming discouraged, although it appears so natural for your child to do wrong and so difficult to get him to do right. You must go on training, trusting in the promise, teaching, reproving, correcting, punishing, ever looking upward for grace and wisdom.
Be careful of your example. It exerts a powerful influence. At one time in his life, the writer was quick in his actions and his words. He never received such a reproving as when one day his little boy under a provocation acted and spoke in the exact manner and tone of his papa. It cut to the heart.
It may seem at times that the voice of conscience is almost stifled, but you must hope on and labor zealously as in the command: “And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when them sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.” Deut. 6:7.
Many parents seeing their young child doing or saying something wrong often think it of not much consequence, because the child is young and the wrong is very slight. You do not know the power of habit, and how one wrong, howsoever slight, leads to a greater one. Habit has been likened to a spider's web, which at first can be easily broken, but after continued indulgence binds its victim as with a strong cable, making reformation almost impossible. The same is true of good and right conduct. At first it may require an effort to perform a certain right act, but after repetition it is accomplished naturally and without thought. Therefore be vigilant in training your child to right action, and carefully avoid everything that would lead to evil acts or feelings. To tease a child is to develop an angry disposition. Some fathers think it quite laughable to hear the little two-year-old say to its mamma, “I won't do it,” but he shall afterward pay dearly for his sport.
Parents think it “cute” to see their little one shake its little fist at papa and mamma. Through [pg 274] such education the day will probably come when he will shake his fist at you so that it will strike like a hammer on your heart. We have heard many parents laughing at their little children saying “smart things,” little conscious of what these things are leading to.
“Train up a child in the way he should go,” comprehends much more than many have understood. Just recently we heard a little child being taught to say, “Peter, Peter, pumpkin eater,” etc. Such teaching is horrifying to Christian hearts. It is better to train your child to make reply in the polite, “Yes, sir” and “No, sir,” or, “Yes, ma'am,” and “No, ma'am,” instead of that coarse, impolite “umgh,” “humgh,” which is no language. Remember the first step to child training is to set the example before them in your own life. Frequently we find parents endeavoring to teach their children to say, “Please” and “Yes, sir,” when they in their own speech neglect such politeness. Your efforts will prove fruitless.