As the twig is bent so grows the tree, do you believe that’s true?
I remember there was a time I used to believe it too.
Before I had children of my own how often I would say –
If that child belonged to me it would not act that way –
Indeed I’d train it different it is very plain to see,
That as the twig is bent so grows the tree.
OH: that was many years ago, (since) I’ve raised children of my own
They are anything but perfect these trees that I have grown,
And I tried to mould the twigs in the way that I thought best
But my children are no different than any of the rest.
I see the same faults in them I found fault with in others,
And I remember at that time I blamed it on their mothers.
Now it sorta burns me up when folks who have no children of their own,
Will try to tell me what to do or the kind of child they would have grown.
For I know if they had the task they think they could do so well
Before so very long a different story they would tell.
It is not too good to be so sure of what your child would or wouldn’t do –
The fault you find with others often comes right home to you.
There are many child training books and some very good ones too –
But because every child is different no one set of rules will do.
If you have a dozen children no two will be alike,
Each one needs individual training if you expect to train them right –
A sharp command to one child may scare him half to death,
And to another of your children would be so much wasted breath.
So it isn’t wise to brag about what your child would or would not do –
You may have to eat your words, could be embarrassing too.
It is wise to check on the company that they keep
Sometimes the wrong environment can change the guidance you seek.
Oh; the heartache of those parents who have tried their best to be
Good, faithful, Christian parents and yet they raised a crooked tree.
Sometimes there are traits born in them – traits their parents had;
Sometimes this is good and sometimes this is bad.
Have you ever said to your boy; like father like son –
Or heard said, you are just like your mother there is not much can be done.
If they are born with characteristics there is not much you can do,
They Inherit our looks, sometimes our dispositions too.
I’m sure you’ve known of parents who have raised eight or nine –
There will be one black sheep among them, the rest will be fine –
Surely these parents gave the same training to each and every one,
Yet the parents will be blamed for what the one has done.
There are some children whose very lives begin,
In homes filled with quarreling, drunkenness and sin.
Often from a home like this, they turn out a boy or girl,
That proves a blessing to the family, and a credit to the world.
I know of a family where both parents work, their boy was left alone –
He sorta shifted for himself until his parents came home.
Although it is hard to understand, I am here to say,
I don’t know of a finer boy than that young man is today.
And I knew of a wonderful couple, a minister and wife,
Who raised a son they thought would be the joy of their life;
But this boy did things that made his parents bow their heads in shame
Raised in this Christian environment, do you think these parents were to blame?
So I could go on quoting forever and a day,
For the wrong of our children, the parents often pay –
And when you think it over, I hope you will agree,
That it is Not Always, as the twig is bent so grows the tree.
