What one receives at birth constitutes his heredity.—This consists of a normal or defective physical constitution, the natural bent of mind and its rudimentary possibilities and the innate tendencies toward good or evil. The physical, mental and moral influences one receives after birth constitute his environment. Ideal environment tends to direct, develop and to mature the results of good heredity and to correct the results of bad heredity. Bad environment tends to neutralize the effects of good heredity and to intensify the effects of bad heredity. If a child has inherited a frail constitution, this can be overcome largely or entirely by proper physical training, appropriate food and observing other health laws. In such cases, heavy drugging will do but little good. If nature is aided by intelligent parents, who have inspired their unfortunate child with an intense interest and purpose to out-grow every defect, he will accomplish wonders. If a child has inherited a tendency toward tuberculosis, this can be entirely overcome by physical training, deep breathing, nutritious food and ventilated bed rooms. The same is true of many other physical defects.
Our mental possibilities are largely inherited.—Schools and colleges do not produce great minds. They direct, train and develop the inherited mental possibilities. Children of mediocrity should have every possible encouragement and opportunity for mental improvement. They cannot succeed without it. Their offspring will inherit improved mental possibilities, if their parents are wisely trained in childhood. Children who have inherited special genius will succeed in spite of limited opportunities, but they will succeed better by having the advantage of a good education. A practical study of the psychology of childhood, in relation to mental heredity, would lead parents and teachers to be more patient, sympathetic and wise in the mental training of many children.
Heredity and moral tendencies.—Heredity is just as potential in the moral realm as in the physical and mental. Children inherit tendencies toward good or evil, virtue or vice. What they inherit morally is determined by the relation of their ancestors to moral laws.
Parental responsibility.—Parents are not only responsible for the number of children born in the home, whether few or many, close together or far apart, but they are also largely responsible for their children’s being born with strong or weak constitutions, brilliant or stupid minds, good or bad tendencies. When this responsibility is more fully understood by parents, their children will be better born. The greatest blessing parents can bequeath to their children is not wealth, but a good heredity. A very large part of a child’s training, good or bad, is prenatal. Right from birth, before environment has had time to influence the child, examples of children who are easily trained, and cases that are trained with the greatest difficulty, are perfectly familiar to all of us.
Environment is fully as potential in a child’s life as is heredity.—A child may receive the most unfavorable heredity, and good environment may lead the child to become much superior to his parents, brothers and sisters. Again, a child may receive the very best heredity, and a bad environment may lead him to mental neglect and moral disaster. Parents can determine largely the heredity of the child; but they can furnish only a small part of a child’s environment. Unknown to the parents, a playmate, a neighbor, a servant, in a few words or a single act, may give a child an impulse toward vice that may lead the child into years of sin. The real cause of the child’s going wrong may ever remain unknown to the parents.
Value of early environment.—The total of a child’s environment is furnished by the whole of society. Fortunately, parents have largely the control of the first years of a child’s environment. Unfortunately, most parents have tried to safeguard the virtue of their children by keeping them ignorant of everything pertaining to their sex natures. Just here parents have often failed because of their false idea of good environment. Ignorance of the sex nature is not a safeguard. Children are often engaging in sexual sins months or years before the parents dream of danger. Many servants employed in and about the home are impure in mind or practice or both; often they are sex perverts. They take a fiendish delight in teaching vice to even a small child. Parents cannot be too careful in the selection of servants. They should have the most positive understanding that no profanity, obscenity or vice is to be engaged in by the servant. Sexual vice is the most common and dangerous vice of childhood. It always leads to other forms of wrong-doing. Proper sex instruction, given by the parents at the right time and in the right way, is the only sane safeguard to the virtue of childhood.
Heredity, environment, Christ.—A bad environment may lead a child of good heredity for a number of years into vice and sin; but the inherent good tendencies often assert themselves and help the prodigal to return.
A child with a bad heredity, made and kept good by an ideal environment, is never as strong or safe as a child of good heredity and good environment.
Every child at birth is the sum total of all the influences, good and bad, along the line of his lineage back to Adam. Every child has more or less of hereditary degeneracy. All children are exposed more or less to bad environment. All children need to accept Christ, to be transformed by His power and freed from the domination of inherited and acquired evil. Good heredity and good environment make it easy for children to accept Christ and live the Christ life. Bad heredity and bad environment make it difficult for children to accept and live the Christ life.
It is the duty of parents to know and practice the laws of heredity and prenatal culture; to furnish the child as far as possible with a good environment and a sane knowledge of himself; and to influence him to accept Christ.