Among these are good table manners. Ungainly table manners have
no bearing on the health, but they give an unfavorable impression to
others. We are partly judged by the presence or absence of such little
graces.
Training children is like training trees. A sapling can be made to grow
in the desired way, but after a few years it will not respond to
training. The period of infancy is plastic, and then is the time to
plant the seeds in the child's mind and teach good habits.
It is not difficult to train the children. If the parents are orderly
and firm, instead of wavering, the children almost intuitively fall into
line. Teach them to obey and they will later be able to command
intelligently and considerately.
The babies are helpless at first. This softens the hearts of the parents
toward them until they become very indulgent. Indulging and pampering
children are bad for them. Kindness consists in doing for them what is
for their good, which is not always what they desire.
If the children are properly trained at first, they need very little
training later on.
CHAPTER XXVII.
CHILDREN.
Statistics are generally very dry and uninteresting, but at times they
take on a tragic interest, and the importance of the few submitted here
is so great that they should command careful attention.
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