Advice to a Mother on the Management of Her ChildrenChavasse, Pye Henry
Science
Advice to a Mother on the Management of Her Children
Chavasse, Pye Henry
Child care; Children -- Health and hygiene; Infants -- Health and hygiene
_Leadbeater Papers._
Have no favourites, show no partiality; for the young are very
jealous, sharp-sighted, and quick-witted, and take a dislike to the
petted one. Do not rouse the old Adam in them. Let children be taught
to be "kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love;" let
them be encouraged to share each other's toys and playthings, and to
banish selfishness.
Attend to a child's _little_ pleasures. It is the _little_ pleasures
of a child that constitute his happiness. Great pleasures to him and
to us all (as a favourite author remarks) come but seldom, and are the
exceptions, and not the rule.
Let a child he nurtured in love. "It will be seen," says the author of
_John Halifax_, "that I hold this law of kindness as the Alpha and
Omega of education. I once asked one, in his own house, a father in
everything but the name, his authority unquestioned, his least word
held in reverence, his smallest wish obeyed--'How did you ever manage
to bring up these children?' He said: '_By love_.'"
Let every word and action prove that you love your children. Enter
into all their little pursuits and pleasures. Join them in their play,
and be a "child again!" If they are curious, do not check their
curiosity; but rather encourage it; for they have a great deal--as we
all have--to learn, and how can they know if they are not taught? You
may depend upon it the knowledge they obtain from observation is far
superior to that obtained from books. Let all you teach them, let all
you do, and let all you say bear the stamp of love. "Endeavour, from
first to last, in your intercourse with your children, to let it bear
the impress of _love_. It is not enough that you _feel_ affection
towards your children--that you are devoted to their interests; you
must show in your manner the fondness of your hearts towards
them. Young minds cannot appreciate great sacrifices made for them;
they judge their parents by the words and deeds of every-day
life. They are won by _little_ kindnesses, and alienated by _little_
acts of neglect or impatience. One complaint unnoticed, one appeal
unheeded, one lawful request arbitrarily refused, will be remembered
by your little ones more than a thousand acts of the most devoted
affection."--_The Protoplast_.
A placid, well-regulated temper is very conducive to health. A
disordered, or an over-loaded stomach, is a frequent cause of
peevishness. Appropriate treatment in such a case will, of course, be
necessary.
169. _My child stammers: can you tell me the cause, and can you
suggest a remedy_?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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