The Mother at Home (pages 35-40)

The Mother at Home – pages 35-40

1. “When you give a command, invariably enforce its obedience.”

2. “Mother’s word is to never be disregarded.”

3. Overlook when children are "thoughtless and inadvertent".


The mother is kind and does all she can to keep her children happy, but when a child disobeys or hesitates, the degree of the punishment may be judiciously considered. Disobedience is never tolerated and when it happens, the mother takes the opportunity to teach obedience with cutting “off its sources of enjoyment, or inflicting bodily pain”. (I find it interesting that the author gave two alternatives, inflicting pain and also “cut off its sources of enjoyment”) As this book states, a parent must decide the punishment; a strong reprimand may be sufficient. Regardless of the punishment, the mother must instill in the child’s mind that they will not get away with disobedience.

“There are doubtless cases of trifling faults occurring, which a wise parent will judge it expedient to overlook. Children will be thoughtless and inadvertent. They will occasionally err from strict propriety, without any real intention of doing wrong.” Judgment must be used to decide what is to be overlooked. But direct disobedience must not be viewed as a trifling thing.

God has given every mother the power to get obedience from children and to mold them to do what is right.

Once again, we must do this. This is our duty as mothers and we will suffer both in mind and spirit if we neglect to teach our children.