Thoughtfully decide upon an ideal child in body, mind and character and try to embody this ideal in your daily life and in this way you will transmit these ideal conditions to your child.
“Like begets like” is an invariable law. At the conception of life an immortal being is started with a heritage of possibilities obtained from its parents. It is bone of their bone, flesh of their flesh, mind of their mind, soul of their soul. It cannot be otherwise than like the parents were at the time of the conception.
Practical dietetics.—The increase in population among the very poor is far greater than among the more prosperous classes. Their vitality is often very low, due to lack of proper nourishment. If the charity workers in our churches would look after this class of prospective mothers and see that they are supplied during gestation and lactation with wholesome and nutritious food, they would be engaged in the highest form of Christian service, and many of these mothers would give to their country better citizens than those which come from the homes of wealth. The time will come when the governments will declare for international peace and will appropriate a few hundred millions each year for the prospective mothers whose income is not sufficient to meet their needs, instead of appropriating their surplus funds to old soldiers. It is important that every mother be supplied during these periods with the best quality of nutritious food.
Effects of narcotics.—If the father is addicted to the use of tobacco or alcoholic drinks, he should abandon the habit, if for no other reason, because of its evil effects upon his offspring. One has only to study the children of a few men who are heavy drinkers or tobacco users to see the unmistakable effects of the narcotic habits of parents upon their children. In France there are annually twenty thousand more deaths than births. Eminent French doctors attribute part of this to the inveterate tobacco users. They claim that this class of men are often sterile, or their children die prematurely.
Suppressing evil tendencies.—“Like begets like.” Parents cannot transmit to their children what they themselves do not possess in a latent or active state. By awakening a slumbering talent and exercising it with zeal it may be reproduced in an intensified form in the child. By refraining from a bad habit, or ceasing to use an undesirable trait and by cultivating a mental opposition to it, the parents may be able to prevent, partly or wholly, its reappearance in the child. This law will apply to any case where tobacco or whisky habit, dishonesty, bad temper, idleness, licentiousness or any other bad trait has existed in the parents or their immediate ancestors.
Effects of culture.—Prospective parents should read the best literature, attend lecture courses, outline a course of study and follow it, and try to think beyond their usual meditations. Their affection for each other should be strong and pure. In relation to society, they should pay especial attention to honesty, charity, friendliness and love. Their æsthetic natures should be developed by the study and admiration of nature and art. Bible reading, singing and prayer, good works and spiritual devotion should form a part of their daily programme. It will do no good to practice these things in a half-hearted way. They must be made a part of our life if they are to influence favorably the future child.
Primal purpose of marriage.—The primary purpose of marriage is parentage. No greater early obligation rests upon married people than grows out of the function of parentage. No greater early honor, reward, or happiness comes to the married than when this God-honored duty is faithfully performed. No greater service can be rendered our children, society and God, than when we parent children whose bodies are sound and healthy, minds vigorous and bright, dispositions sweet, lives grand, noble and Christlike.
CHAPTER XLVII
PRENATAL TRAINING
One-half trained before birth.—This chapter will be devoted to the training of children before they are born. It is believed by some students of eugenics that heredity is fully as potent as environment and that a child often receives one-half its training before it is born. Oliver Wendell Holmes often said, “A child’s training should begin with his grand-parents.” The proverb, “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it,” to be proven to be absolutely true, must include both prenatal and postnatal training of a child. In other chapters reference is made to what children may inherit from their grand-parents and parents. In this we shall refer to the influence of parental conditions at the creative moment, and the mental and moral influence of the mother during gestation.
Transmission of acquired characteristics possible.—The transmission of fixed characteristics is accepted by all. The transmission of acquired characteristics is quite generally accepted. The materialistic student does not accept it, claiming that the only relation between the mother and the child is that of nutrition. We admit that the nervous system of the mother is not connected with the nervous system of the child, but we insist that “the blood is the life.” The mother’s physical, mental and moral life is in her blood. Through her blood the mother furnishes the child not only with air, water and food, but with life. In the chapter, Reproduction and Heredity, we explained how the blood is affected by the transient mental states. Love and anger, joy and fear, grief and jealousy all change the character of the blood and influence the vital energy. The new psychology is rapidly demonstrating that one mind may influence another independent of physical communication. By one or both of these methods, acquired characteristics of the father and mother are transmitted to their children.