Cheerfulness
A virtue for all
The School for Housewives brings you short, practical, and thoughtful messages to inspire you to make your home. If you’re new here, go to the homepage for the previous Lessons; the categories are arranged in the menu bar at the top. AI-free zone.
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St. Lawrence, whose martyrdom is celebrated today, was famous for joking as he faced his doom. That saint brought the poor, halt, and lame to the emperor in carts, when asked to produce the wealth of the Church. He announced, “I’m done on this side; turn me over,” as he was being tortured to death on the gridiron.
Today’s children are subject to endless lectures and fake wordy concern designed to get them to comply, delivered with little or no affection and certainly zero sense of humor. I worry about the thin, barely controlled tolerance in the tone adults are using with children (and yes, I have seen a real change in tone over the years).
It’s like their model is customer service in a particularly remote, soulless corporation, where agents, themselves trained by managerial experts, deal with bratty customers whom they must pacify and dismiss.
Instead, get to know the saints, share their stories, and be ready to back up firm directions with a pithy verse from Scripture. I recommend the occasional lighthearted “You know, ‘the Lord loves a cheerful giver!’” * Somehow children argue less and are happier when spoken to with kind confidence and a tacit acknowledgement that obedience isn’t always easy.
* (2 Corinthians 9:7) (not that you have to give the chapter and verse at the time)
Be happy at home! As with everything here at the SFH, the best thing is for you to take my ideas, which come from my experience of escaping feminism to enjoy the gift of 46 years of marriage, seven children, and more than a score of grandchildren, and apply them to your situation with discernment, prudence, and confidence — and a sense of humor!
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For the longer version of this Substack, and much more on such topics:
My 3-volume book on Order and Wonder in Family Life: