Counsels for the Church - Ellen G. White

Teach your children that it is their privilege to receive every day the
baptism of the Holy Spirit. Let Christ find you His helping hand to carry out
His purposes. By prayer you may gain an experience that will make your
ministry for your children a perfect success.
The power of a mother's prayers cannot be too highly estimated. She
who kneels beside her son and daughter through the vicissitudes of
childhood, through the perils of youth, will never know till the judgment the
influence of her prayers upon the life of her children. If she is connected by
faith with the Son of God, the mother's tender hand may hold back her son
from the power of temptation, may restrain her daughter from indulging in
sin. When passion is warring for the mastery, the power of love, the
restraining, earnest, determined influence of the mother, may balance the
soul on the side of right.
After you have done your duty faithfully to your children, then carry
them to God and ask Him to help you. Tell Him that you have done your
part, and then in faith ask God to do His part, that which you cannot do. Ask
Him to temper their dispositions, to make them mild and gentle by His Holy
Spirit. He will hear you pray. He will love to answer your prayers. Through
His Word He has enjoined it upon you to correct your children, to "spare not
for their crying," and His Word is to be heeded in these things.
Teach Respect and Courtesy
God has especially enjoined tender respect toward the aged. He says,
"The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of
righteousness." Proverbs 16:31. It tells of battles fought, and victories
gained; of burdens borne, and temptations resisted. It tells of weary feet
nearing their rest, of places soon to be vacant. Help the children to think of
this, and they will smooth the path of the aged by their courtesy and respect,
and will bring grace and beauty into their young lives as they heed the
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