Christian science brings to light the important fact that children are not the helpless victims of inherited traits of character, as is generally believed by mankind. The child's character is formed largely by its early training and education. In the vast majority of cases, children receive their first impressions or lessons regarding the world in which they live from the members of their own households, mainly from their mothers. Therefore, whatever the child feels, hears, or sees in his own home helps to form the pattern of his character and status in life, whether for weal or for woe.
The susceptibility of the young child to its first mental influences has long been understood by some religious teachers. A distinguished clergyman of our own time voiced his intelligent grasp of the subject as follows: "A mother's heart is the child's schoolroom." A wise writer of centuries ago summed up his conclusions on this important matter in these significant words: "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."
Mary Baker Eddy, our beloved Leader, corroborates this statement. She writes on page 236 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures": "A mother is the strongest educator, either for or against crime. Her thoughts form the embryo of another mortal mind, and unconsciously mould it, either after a model odious to herself or through divine influence, 'according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount.'"
