The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1961-05-12
Parents Duty
Lesson for May IA, 1861

In America the second Sunday
in May is called Mothers Day.
and a few weeks after that, the
windows of stores advertise vari-
Gus stuff for Fathers Dial"
presents. Maybe there would be
more enthusiasm if Mothers and
Fathers Day were combined. In
the actual life of the home,
If father and mother are not
teamed up together, they will not
carry the load. For once. friends,
let us stop being sentimental
about mothers, let us think about
fathers and mothers together.
Let's think about what parents
must do for their children if they
have any serious intention of
bringing the children up right.
And let's not talk as if it were
easy and pleasant. Let us talk
about something so difficult, so
unpleasant, that thousands of par
ents put if off and neglect it, with
results that bring disaster per-
sonal and national.
Discipline
This is the duty of discipline.
Children will not ask for it, they
are disposed to resent it. It has
to be done by the parents. both
parents. The children must not
get the idea that father can be
played off against mother. Each
must support the other. Any
arguments about discipline had
better be carried on either before
the couple marry, or tafter the
children Gomez while the children
are asleep. Now there are two
things the parents must know, or
their discipline" will not work
H. They must know what their
children are doing. With very
little children this mean+what
they are doing every waking
minute. The other thing to be
sure about is how you want them
to grow up. what sort of ideal
you have for their character and
life.
Discipline Is an Art
Discipline is not the same as
punishment, though it involves
punishment sometimes. 1t is not
the same as being "possessive, +"
wanting to manage every detail
of the children's lives. It is not
treating sons and daughters like
perpetual children. picking out
their wives and husbands. their
colleges or their future careers.
1t means bringing them up SO
that when it comes time for them
to make choices they will choose
wisely and well.
This means, of course, that dis
cipllne is an art, not a science
1t changes from family to family,
from child to child. But one thing
is certain: a child who always
does exactly as he pleases. is an
undisciplined child. a menace to
himself. to his parents. and all
too soon. to society. Juvenile de-
linquents are simply undiscip-
lined children turned loose. 1t is
easy at first for parents to dodge
discipline.
The Bible and Discipline
Old Testament and New push
the duty of discipline. The very
fact that discipline has to be set
out as a parents duty shows that
parents were then. as they are
now. inclined to skip it. The
meaning of the word as we find
it in the R.S.V. is interesting.
Both in the Hebrew and the
Greek. the word is the same as
one translated sometiems cor
rection" or punishment. We
can combine the two ideas and
say. discipline in the home means
correction and punishment.
How much correction? How
much punishment? That's where
the art comes in. But essentially
the thing is always the same in
principle. When a child shows
signs. in character. actions or
habits, of going away from the
ideal person he ought to be, that
is the time to correc and
straightern him out, just as you
would correct a rose or tomato
plant that was dragging in the
mud.
And this gives the clue to the
meaning of 1.-The discipline of the
Lord of which Paul speaks
(Eph. ga. For in a Christian
home. the ideal for every child
will be Christ-likeness, nothing
less. Few children there may be
sanity exceptions. unknown to
this writer will unfold into
Christ likeness without help As
the gardener helps the flowers by
not letting them sprawl natur-
ally, SO the parent helps the child
by keeping him out Of whatever
soils the soul.
Based on outlines copyrighted
by the Division Of Christian Edu-
cation, National Council of the
Churches of Christ in the U. S. A.
Released by Community Press
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