Every conscientious parent is aware of the temptations that confront his children. Complex as the problem may seem, there are many solutions offered in the Bible and in the writings of Mrs. Eddy to help him. For example, this counsel in Proverbs alerts the parent to his responsibility in preparing his children to defend themselves successfully from temptation and harm (1:8—10): "My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother.... My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not."

The ingenious advertising of tobacco, strong drink, and sensuality makes these evils appear glamorous and desirable and are misleading influences. These temptations offered to young people, if not resisted, may lead to decadence of character, disregard of moral and spiritual law, lack of consideration for the rights of others, brutish impulses, and even violent and sadistic tendencies.

A strong protest against such depravity must be raised, and youth's spiritual heritage must be established through an understanding of God's law and His all-power. Those who have strayed may be restored to their rightful place in society by such spiritual means.

In Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy, we find this message (p. 201): "We cannot build safely on false foundations. Truth makes a new creature, in whom old things pass away and 'all things are become new.' Passions, selfishness, false appetites, hatred, fear, all sensuality, yield to spirituality, and the superabundance of being is on the side of God, good."

Young people who are in trouble have not arrived there suddenly; it began long before the outbreak. A tiny child soon learns to have its way with a winsome smile or with tears. How often one has heard the remark: "I can't refuse him anything when he smiles at me like that," or, "I can't refuse him when tears roll down his checks!"

What is really required is a balanced love, tempered by the knowledge of what is best for the child. The little one is given a sense of being secure and cherished by loving denial rather than by overindulgence. How does a small child know what is best for him? The parent must explain to him over and over again how to discern right from wrong until he can reason it out for himself. Children so trained rarely get into trouble.

Mrs. Eddy says in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 51), "If you make clear to the child's thought the right motives for action, and cause him to love them, they will lead him aright: if you educate him to love God, good, and obey the Golden Rule, he will love and obey you without your having to resort to corporeal punishment."

It is normal for children reared in such an atmosphere to be guided rightly. They are not restlessly seeking personal satisfaction and then finding themselves immersed in a web of wrongdoing and sin. As their thought is awakened through the teachings of Christian Science, they begin to understand that because evil has no source in God, good, it has no reality. This knowledge shows them how to resist evil and thus to cease being victimized or debased by it. This knowledge opens the way for the transforming influence of Christ, Truth, to bring healing and regeneration.

We read in Proverbs (29:25), "The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso puttcth his trust in the Lord shall be safe." Educated to put God's law first, children turn to Him naturally and find this trust equal to the demands of the hour, for His law operates for those who live in obedience to it.

In "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany," Mrs. Eddy tells us (p. 287), "Divine Love reforms, regenerates, giving to human weakness strength, serving as admonition, instruction, and governing all that really is."

This fact understood leads to the destruction of evil's seeming tenacity and reveals the true character of man. We successfully handle problems concerning our children when we realize that the man of God's creating is the only man there really is and that he is now and forever the true likeness of his loving heavenly Father.