Helpful thoughts, from a mother’s point of view, about the training of our children are selected from an essay entitled, “And his mother’s name was”, a phrase, we are reminded, that frequently occurs in the books of Kings and Chronicles. And we may wonder what effect these mothers had on the lives of their sons: some we know were God-fearing, while others became extremely wicked. The influence of their mothers during their early years must have left its mark, either for good or evil.
The writer—a Sister in the Truth—with simple directness of language tells of her own experiences in what she describes as “the privilege and responsibility of caring and training of young children”. And there is also the admission that as “Sisters of the Lord” they have special problems arising from their belief and adherence to the teaching of the Scriptures.
It might be inferred that the words of a Sister on such a topic would be addressed specifically to Sisters only, but it is not so, for a very good reason: while it is true that primarily it is the mothers who are most concerned in the care and training of their children, it is equally important for fathers to understand and co-operate.
The ecclesia—we should remember—eventually benefits from the example and influence of the mothers among them. The spiritual tone and atmosphere created by the parents in the home will be reflected by their sons and daughters when they take their place in the ecclesia.
We read from the essay:
A good mother desires the best for her children. True success is for them to be accepted as children of God. Our ideal, then, should be to strive for willing obedience to God’s commands—this cannot be achieved by merely teaching the way of salvation. The home must be a place in which faith and love are living realities. So, then, in child-rearing the need to have a clear picture of what one is hoping to achieve is of first importance.
The first steps in gaining this “true success” rest with the mother herself. It is necessary for her to be sure of the fundamentals of our belief and of the need to keep herself separate and holy. Surrounded by the ‘worldliness of Agnosticism—where there is no obligation or sense of duty to the Creator, allowing their morals to run riot without motive to do otherwise’ the God-fearing mothers will convince themselves of the Bible teaching by regularly opening their Bibles and taking heed to the words therein:
“We must steadily imbibe the Word to keep ourselves spiritually healthy and have a deep well of sound counsel to offer to those young ones in our care: for it is certain that, if we take nothing in, we shall not be able to give anything out.”
The imparting of scriptural instruction should begin as early as possible with the object of having a valuable and firm foundation when dealing with matters that could later lead our children astray:
“To be able to refer to what has already been taught will make the path a good deal easier.”
The difficult but essential lesson of obedience needs to be taught by right means, and insisted on from the beginning; which means to first create a willing mind that will work by love. And this will come from the parents’ own attitude of willing obedience and love to their heavenly Father giving the young child cause to respond with love and obedience to them. A difficult problem will come at school age, when the child is no longer under the mother’s full control and influence. Others now step in and he will listen to other voices and begin to stand on his own feet: “But this is not where you stop and let others take over. You are to remain the chief advisory counsel, but in the most unobtrusive way. It cannot be over-stressed that you keep on near equal terms with your children; they need to be treated with courtesy, kindness and good manners. They will learn Christian principles by your example.”
On baptism, this mother says,
“It is a matter to be handled most carefully: an over anxious parent may do more harm than good by applying the wrong kind of pressure. Make the Truth attractive by your own infectious happiness about it—the example of the parents at home counts for so much—only by constant reading and talking about the word of God at home, the Bible class, and whenever opportunity offers can we hope to discover what the Lord God requires of us – it is the Lord’s work that you are doing, so the first and foremost thing is to beseech the Father in heaven for help, guidance and strength.”
Fellowship with the Maker and Brethren