9.  Scores of times during the day a child is told in a short, authoritative way to do or not to do certain little things, which we ask at the hands of elder persons as favors.  When we speak to an elder person, we say, would you be so kind as to close the door, when the same person making the request of a child will say, "Shut the door." "Bring me the chair." "Stop that noise." "Sit down there." Whereas, if the same kindness was used towards the child it would soon learn to imitate the example.

10.  On the other hand, let a child ask for anything without saying “please,” receive anything without saying “thank you,” it suffers a rebuke and a look of scorn at once.  Often a child insists on having a book, chair or apple to the inconveniencing of an elder, and what an outcry is raised:  “Such rudeness;” “Such an ill-mannered child;” “His parents must have neglected him strangely.”  Not at all:  The parents may have been steadily telling him a great many times every day not to do these precise things which you dislike.  But they themselves have been all the time doing those very things before him, and there is no proverb that strikes a truer balance between two things than the old one which weighs example over against precept.

11.  It is a bad policy to be rude to children.  A child will win and be won, and in a long run the chances are that the child will have better manners than its parents.  Give them a good example and take pains in teaching them lessons of obedience and propriety, and there will be little difficulty in raising a family of beautiful and well-behaved children.

12.  Never correct a child in the presence of others; it is a rudeness to the child that will soon destroy its self-respect.  It is the way criminals are made and should always and everywhere be condemned.

13.  But there are no words to say what we are or what we deserve if we do this to the little children whom we have dared for our own pleasure to bring into the perils of this life, and whose whole future may be blighted by the mistakes of our careless hands.  There are thousands of young men and women to-day groaning under the penalties and burdens of life, who owe their misfortunes, their shipwreck and ruin to the ignorance or indifference of parents.

14.  Parents of course love their children, but with that love there is a responsibility that cannot be shirked.  The government and training of children is a study that demands a parent’s time and attention often much more than the claims of business.

15.  Parents, study the problems that come up every day in your home.  Remember, your future happiness, and the future welfare of your children, depend upon it.