Murders > Tales for the farmers' ingle-neuk

12
Be the friend and not the tyrant of your family.
Show your children that you love them, and they
will love you in return. Treat them with con-
hdeuce, and they will open their hearts to you.
At the same time, do not let a mistaken tender¬
ness prevent you from administering- correction
when necessary. Remember, that ‘ he that
spareth the rod hateth the child but take care
that reason, not passion, direct the punishment.
For a simple accident, however vexatious £nd
distressing it may be, your child is not account¬
able ; for carelessness let him be reproved ; for
wilful neglect or disobedience let him be whipped.
Let your children clearly understand that you
punish them not to gratify your own humour,
but to perform a necessary though painful duty
to them, and that you chasten them because
you love them. Neither promise, nor threaten
at random. What you promise, punctually per¬
form ; what you threaten, rigoroasly inflict. Let
not your child say in his heart, ‘ My father
deceives me.’ 1 know you too well to suppose
that you would be guilty of the meanness of a
lie in your intercourse with your equals, but I
fear you have not been accustomed to be so nicely
scrupulous in your management of your children;
and yet you cannot commit a greater error than
to tell an untruth. If, for your own convenience,
you fall into a habit of alarming them into obe¬
dience by frightful stories or other falsehoods,
they will not fail to find out the deceit, and they
will learn both to imitate and despise you. All
trick and cunning in education is detestable.