Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1875-07-29
HON. to Train Up Parent in the
Way He Should Go.

haps 50. They but follow the FASHION OF
the age-anything but heroic or ascetic
age. No doubt they are alittle spoiled"
So are we all. But the errors of the par
ents, from which theirs arise, are a much
more serious matter. How to train up
tile parents in the way they should 90 is a
necessity which, did it force itself upon
She mind Of any school board, would be
found quite as important as the education
Of the children. X
To be just is the very first lesson that a
parent requires to learn. The rights Of
The little soul, which did not come into the
world OF its own accord, nor, indeed, was
taken into consideration in the matter at
all-for do any in marrying ever think of
the sort Of fathers or mothers they are Civ
ing TO their offspring rights of this
offspring, physical mental and moral, are
at once most obvious and least regarded
The newborn child is an interest, de
Light, pride; the parents exult over it, as
over any other luxury or amusement; but
how seldom do they take to heart the sol
enn responsibility of it, or see face di-
vine, as it were, looking at them from the
innocent baby face?
Yet most young parents, who until now
have been accustomed to think only of
themselves, or Of one another, take the in
production Of the unconscious third as
their natural possession, never doubling
tlAat it is wholly theirs to bring up as they
+I,oft
50 doing.
Constantly one hears the remark cob!
4 would not take the responsibility of an
other PERSONS child" Does that imply
fhat they feel at liberty to do as they like
with their own? [ fear it does, and that
hfw and custom both appear to sanction
this delusion. Nobody must interfere
between parent and child, at least not till
the case comes within a degree or two of
ghild-murder. The slow destruction of
soul and body which, through ignorance
or carelessness, goes ON among hundreds
OF children, not only in humble but in
many respectable and well-regulated house
holds society never notices. / suppose
even the most daring philanthropist would
never venture to bring in bill for claim
ing the children Of unworthy parents and
sRatching them from ruin by annihilating
all parental rights, and making them chill
dren OF the State. Yet such proceeding
would benefit the new generation to an in
eaiculable degree
Train up child in the way he should
go" is the advice in everybody's mouth,
but who thinks of training the parents
Does not everybody strictly hold that the
mere fact of parenthood implies all that is
necessary for the up-bringing of the child?
all the love, all the wisdom, all the self
denial? Does it ever occur to the average
young man and young woman, bending
together over the cradle of their first-born,
that the little thing, whose teachers they
are proudly constituting themselves to be,
is much more likely to be the unconscious
agent IN teaching them?
And the education begins at once. How
amusing and, at the same time, how salts
factory it is to see a young fellow, who
throughout his bachelor days has been
selfish egotist-most young bachelors are
obliged now to think of something and
somebody besides himself, to give up not
few OF his own personal comforts and
find himself forced to play second fiddle
III his own home, where the one important
object for the time being is g the baby"
| have spoken of rights This is the
only instance | know in which they are
not mutual but entirely one-sided. The
newborn babe owes absolutely nothing
70 the parents beyond the physical fact of
existence All moral claims are on its
side alone. The parents are responsible
for it, soul and body, for certainly the
hrst twenty years, nor even after that is it
easy to imagine circumstances which
could wholly set them free. The most
soreiy- tried father and mother could hard
Ay cast adrift their erring offspring with
out lurking uneasiness of conscience as
10 how far these errors were owing to
themselves and their up-bringing. For,
save in very rare cases, where far back
types crop out again and are most difficult
10 deal with, there is seldom "black
Sa1eep' IN any family without the parents
having been to blame
Why, | brought up my children all
alike" means some virtuous progenitor of
such, How does it happen that this
one has turned out so different from the
rest?''
Just, my good friend, because you did
bring them up all alike. You had not the
sense to see that the same training which
makes one mars another; or else that in
trimming them it was necessary to train
yourself first. Meaning to be guide, you
were only q fnger-post, which points the
way to others but stands still itself
The very first lesson parent has to
learn IS that whatever he attempts to teach
he must himsel: first practice. Whatever
he wishes his child to avoid he must
make up his mind to renounce, and that
from the very earliest stage Of existence,
and down to the minutest things. In
young children the initiative faculty is so
enormous, the reasoning power so small,