I will remind you of it four
times more, and after that, whenever you forget, you must leave the
table and wait till we are done." If the mother is steady in her
government, it is not probable that she will have to apply this slight
penalty more than once or twice. This method is far more effectual
than the use of sharp and severe tones, to secure attention and
recollection, and often answers the purpose as well as offering some
reward.
The writer has been in some families where the most efficient and steady
government has been sustained without the use of a cross or angry tone;
and in others, where a far less efficient discipline was kept up, by
frequent severe rebukes and angry remonstrances. In the first case,
the children followed the example set them, and seldom used severe
tones to each other; in the latter, the method employed by the parents
was imitated by the children, and cross words and angry tones resounded
from morning till night, in every portion of the household.
Another important maxim is, Try to keep children in a happy state of
mind. Every one knows, by experience, that it is easier to do right
and submit to rule when cheerful and happy, than when irritated.
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