Duty of the Parent

If the question were asked, “What is the duty of the parent?” it might be answered by the question, “What is not the duty of the parent?” To state the full extent of such duty and where it begins is a task greater than I am able to undertake; but there are a few points of duty that I shall endeavor to mention for the good of parents, and in doing so the thought comes very forcibly that there must be some starting point.

At a mother’s meeting the question was brought up, “How early must we begin to train our children?” Some thought at the age of six, some four, two, etc.; but an aged mother said, “You are all wrong. We ought to begin twenty years before the child is born, by giving it a good mother.” This mother’s idea of the beginning place is truly a good one, and we can all see as parents that we have much to do toward the disposition and character of our unborn children. Truly we must go back before the very conception of the new life for the starting point of parental duty. Our spiritual, mental, moral, and physical nature and condition will all be in a greater or less degree impressed upon the life of the being to be born. Who among us as parents cannot see the very image of ourselves in our precious children—some of the characteristics of our nature greatly enlarged upon, and some diminished? It is within our power to build character that will dominate the life of the future child for good or evil, and mark our own home circle with real comfort and satisfaction or lifelong sorrow and regret. This fact cannot be too plainly dealt with and impressed upon the mind of every parent as an important duty and a God-given privilege. We can do much to make our children what we want them to be. With the love of God in our hearts and His wisdom to guide us, our own life can be that which it should be to lay a foundation of character for the life of our unborn child that it may be said of us in the language of the prophet, “For they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them.”* (Isaiah 65:23) “That they may fear me forever, for the good of them, and of their children after them.”* (Jeremiah 32:39)

With all the resources of grace at our command and the wonderful law of nature that God has designed to serve in this parental responsibility, we certainly should look upon duty as a pleasure and seek diligently to qualify ourselves in this capacity for glorious results. Then when our home finally receives the welcome treasure, and our hearts beat with tender anxiety for its welfare, we may well ask the question, “What is our duty?” There truly is nothing too great for us to do in caring for the little one, and if we look to God and His precious Word we shall find our obligations clearly defined. Our parental love, suggests every comfort in a temporal sense, so it is unnecessary to make mention of this line of duty; and as the child grows we soon find that instruction becomes a plain need. Therefore we will notice from the Book of Truth that it is our duty to instruct.