Counsels on Health - Ellen G. White

and the children soon learn to be swayed by these
and are corrupted, while their indulgent parents are
themselves benumbed and asleep to their danger.
But very few of the youth are free from corrupt
habits. They are excused from physical exercise to
a great degree for fear they will overwork. The
parents bear burdens themselves which their
children should bear. Overwork is bad; but the
result of indolence is more to be dreaded.
Idleness leads to the indulgence of corrupt
habits. Industry does not weary and exhaust one
fifth part as much as the pernicious habit of selfabuse.
If simple, well-regulated labor exhausts
your children, be assured, parents, there is
something, aside from their labor, which is
enervating their systems and producing a sense of
constant weariness. Give your children physical
labor which will call into exercise the nerves and
muscles. The weariness attending such labor will
lessen their inclination to indulge in vicious habits.
Idleness is a curse. It produces licentious habits.
Many cases have been presented before me,
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