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appreciate right religious values by
living your religion a11 day long, and
enthusiastica11y teaching it and shar–
ing it with your children.
Sit down and quietly think child
rearing through. In rearing your
child correctly,
NOTHING
is more
important than your example.
Make ita good one!
Inspire to High Achievement
In one way, this next point is pa'rtly
covered under severa! of the other
areas
1
am discussing. Yet this area
is so important that 1 want to dwe11
on it separately, even though your
example, your teaching and training
and certainly your prayers a11 con–
tribute to its fulfillment.
In his book entitled
Reminis–
cences,
former U.S. General of the
Army Douglas McArthur has writ–
ten of how much the high ideals and
constant encouragement of his
mother meant to his success. Time
after time, in various moments of
crisis during his officer training at
West Point and in his army career,
his mother would tell him, "1 know
you can do it, Doug." Or,
"1
know
you' ll do the right thing."
As with lave, the power of this
kind of parental encouragement is
awesome.
Learn to show appreciation for
the talents, abilities and the good
things your children can do or are
capable of doing.
Inspire them
to
aím for the stars, so to speak-to
become one of the best students,
musicians, athletes, leaders in their
class. Let them know you have
quiet confidence in their ability to
succeed, and that you are praying
for them, rooting for them and will
try to help them in any way you
realistically can.
Inspire them to read the great
books, to read about men and
women who have been successful in
their field. Inspire them to listen to
great music, to appreciate the finest
in art and literature.
Truly, everyone has an incredi–
ble human potential. Psychologists
say that most of us only use about
one tenth of our real capacity.
Encourage and inspire your chil–
dren to achieve much, much
more.
Pray for Your Children
Every normal parent loves his own
30
children. Yet, because of lack of
true understanding, he fails to do
one of the most simple and vital
and wonderful things he could pos–
sibly do for his children:
constantly
pray for them.
Jesus said, "Ask, and it shall be
given you; seek, and ye shall find;
knock, and it shall be opened unto
you" (Matt. 7:7).
Pouring out your heart to the
Creator and Source of all power,
praying,
in detail, as only a parent
can, for the protection, guidance
and success of your children, is one
of the most vital things that you
can do for them.
In this action, you can pray
unselfishly because you are trying
to give to another person. Yet yoú
can pray perceptively about your
child's real needs and problems as
no other human being can.
Ask God to help your children
have a
right attitude
toward him,
toward you his parents and toward
others. Ask the Creator to bless,
protect and guide the child. Ask
him to help you todo your partas
the parent. Ask him for wisdom,
insight, strength, patience and
!ove to do
'a
better job in molding
the precious life he has entrusted
to your charge for a few fleeting
years in the endless span of eter–
nity.
Have you been on your knees
praying
for your children today?
Better get started. And
soon.
Bulld a Sense of Famlly
A final key to effective child rear–
ing is to build what I call a sense of
family into your home. From ear–
liest childhood, impress on your
children that the most important
unit of which they are a part is your
family. Teach and work with your
children to love and appreciate
their brothers and sisters. Encour–
age a deep and abiding family
loyalty and commitment to help
each other throughout their entire
lives.
Arrange fairly frequent family
gatherings with grandparents, un–
eles, aunts and other clase relatives.
Let your children know that they
have roots. When the extended
family is together, encourage talk
about the family background and
history,
~he
shared trials and
triumphs, the.lessons learned.
How well I remember one of my
grandmothers telling about how
granddad brought her into what
was Indian territory and how tbe
countryside later developed.
Many times I beard my father
and bis brother, my uncle, tell
about tbeir youtb- tbe experiences
they went tbrougb, the adventures
in General Pershing's army in
France during World War 1, the
trials tbey bad to endure and sorne
of tbe lessons they gained from
tbese experiences.
For a single parent, or for a fam–
ily living away from all otber rela–
tives, building tbis kind of family
feeling and commitment may be
difficult. But moves do occur,
cbanges can be made and reacbing
out on your part to other relatives
and even close friends will belp fill
tbis vacuum.
The deep sense of belonging, tbe
realization tbat an entire extended
family !oves you and
cares-this
extended family feeling is a pre–
cious beritage to try to leave your
cbildren. Tbeir emotional security
and stability, their confidence,
tbeir ability to give and receive !ove
from many individuals and certain–
ly their deep bappiness- all will be
ricbly enhanced by a close and lov–
ing family.
As I bave found, even wben
your children are grown and bave
tbeir own children, they'll want to
come borne and share again the
joys and the quiet strength of the
extended family. This, incidental–
ly, will probably be one of your
greatest joys in life. So from gen–
eration to generation, the ex–
tended farnily will give a sense of
encouragement, protection , wis–
dom, balance and deep joy, not
only to you, but even to future
generations.
Even in this confused and trou–
bled age, try hard- witb God's
help-to leave as a priceless beri–
tage to your cbildren the under–
standing of what family is all
about!
And be sure to put all these vital
principies to effective child rearing
to work in your borne.
lt
will
require understanding, patience
and effort, but tbe rewards will
extend throughout the
entirety of
your life,
and to generations yet
unborn.
o
The
PLAIN TRUTH