CHILD'S POINT OF VIEW

Shannon News, 14 October 1927, Page 4

CHILD'S POINT OF VIEW

So many theories concerning children are heard nowadays that we sometimes almost pity the modern child brought up so scientifically and over-deliberately! But, as a matter of fact there are still plenty of parents who are lacking in perception, or lazy and self-indulgent. Tire child's point of view must not be surrendered to, but it must be understood and taken into account.

"I met a bad parent the other day," the writer tells us, "a mother who was still under the- impression that wholesome discipline is merely a matter of breaking the child's will. 'You wait till you get home,' she was threatening the small, determined person who walked by her side. 'You'll see where self-will takes you! You'll go straight to bed, my lady.' I don't know what the child had —probably she had been very exasperating but I am sure that the mother had failed in one of her most elementary duties to her child. She had never examined her own motives and her own character; she was merely bent on subduing the child. ...

"We must free ourselves from the notion that we have any sovereign rights over the children merely because we are older. . . just because we are stronger v e must free om-selves from any trace of tyranny. ... It is the parents' job to help the child to strengthen his will and direct it aright, not to break it. . . . Sometimes it is the fathehr who fails. Too oft-t-n we confuse the child by giving him»precept but no example. 'Daddy told m e I ought never to interrupt,' said a little girl of four. 'One day he interrupted me. So I just looked at him —he sent me away from the table!' . . . We teach by word of mouth one code of conduct and the child sees quite a different code in actual practice in the home."

Our sympathies go out to a little boy who intensely admired a turkey in the farmyard. Oire day an old aunt visited the farm and she pressed the child for a reason why he liked her. "I like you 'cos you look lilce a turkey," murmured the child dreamily, still thinking of the wonderful bird in the fa-myard. He was severely punished for his impertinence, and lve never understood why, for he had been quite sincere in comparing his aunt to what h e thought the prettiest bird in {he world,