Counsels for the Church - Ellen G. White

suggests, but idle hands and brains are all ready for Satan to control. The
mind, when not properly occupied, dwells upon improper things. Parents
should teach their children that idleness is sin.
There is nothing which more surely leads to evil than to lift all burdens
from children, leaving them to an idle, aimless life, to do nothing, or to
occupy themselves as they please. The minds of children are active, and if
not occupied with that which is good and useful, they will inevitably turn to
what is bad. While it is right and necessary for them to have recreation, they
should be taught to work, to have regular hours for physical labor and also
for reading and study. See that they have employment suited to their years
and are supplied with useful and interesting books.
Children frequently begin a piece of work with enthusiasm, but,
becoming perplexed or wearied with it, they wish to change and take hold of
something new. Thus they may take hold of several things, meet with a little
discouragement, and give them up; and so they pass from one thing to
another, perfecting nothing. Parents should not allow the love of change to
control their children. They should not be so much engaged with other things
that they will have no time to patiently discipline the developing minds. A
few words of encouragement, or a little help at the right time, may carry
them over their trouble and discouragement, and the satisfaction they will
derive from seeing the task completed that they undertook will stimulate
them to greater exertion.
Children who have been petted and waited upon, always expect it; and if
their expectations are not met, they are disappointed and discouraged. This
same disposition will be seen through their whole lives; they will be helpless,
leaning upon others for aid, expecting others to favor them and yield to them.
And if they are opposed, even after they have grown to manhood and
womanhood, they think themselves abused; and thus they worry their way
through the world, hardly able to bear their own weight, often murmuring
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