CHILDREN’S SESSIONS

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 224, 10 December 1927, Page 12

CHILDREN’S SESSIONS

STORIES AND THE CHILD Between the dark and the daylight \V hen the night is beginning to lower, Comes a pause in the day’s occupations That is known as the Children’s Hour. —Longfellow. There in the twilight hour as the - last light fades from the outside world - and the soft tones of some auntie or . uncle is heard telling a tale of how ; the wicked ogre was slain and right . emerged triumphant, bands are being forged which will lead those children by imperceptible paths to higher things. The moral of all fairy stories, ' whether expressed or only implied, is > that right must overcome wrong. This L* early teaching will leave some impres- } sion on the plastic subconscious mind

of the child and prepare the way for later instruction. It has been argued that the modern child does not want fairy stories; that jokes or imaginary trips to the moon are what will capture his fancy. But all those who have seen the halfclosed eyes and wistful expression of children as they listen tc the adventures of a favourite hero will know better. Children live in a world of , J* a PPY shadows apart from •r e ,y ard facts of life > and to them life itself appears to be a metur'e thrown on a screen, a golden painting of a golden world through which they move without a care. If children’s sessions • -'eal to the highest and noblest in the child, then they are pointed along the right lines, this can. I believe, be said of all our 7%ew Zealand programmes.