WHAT IS THE KINDERGARTEN TO THE MOTHER

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXII, Issue 192, 23 August 1900, Page 4

WHAT IS THE KINDERGARTEN TO THE MOTHER

The question refers to the true mother, and not to one who sends her child ito the 'kindergarten merely to be rid jof him for a few hours. But mothers,!as | a rule, have most r of their time taken lupin caring for the,bodies,of their children. How rare a thing it is ito find an ideal mother—one with time, means, ;the right knowledge, and consecrated will to prepare herself thoroughly for' her new'duties, and then with the strength and patience to carry out her lofty designs. The needs of the. body mrst be looked after, and in the vast majority of c ses this work is all that can be done at home, except incidentally, hi fore the children/arrive at s hool age. Here the kindergarten corr.es to the mother's aid. Hero is a pi cejwliere the bodily care is not the chief thing, wheie I lie, child finds him>elf in the .hands of these who have teen trained to see in him the features of at! inking, responsible being. Is it thought strange that a young girl, who perhaps never had even a baby brother or sister in her own home, should, as kinuergartn' r, be able to take the mother's place and improve on the mother's work? If the be laving and sympathe icin her nature, and possessed of tree motherly instincts, it is rot strange; for with these qualities she has also been given a knowledge of child-nature/ind of its needs, and been inspired with the kindergarten spiiir, which is something entirely outside the expe ience and as yet unreached by the everyday, untraine 1 mother. As this spirit comes to permeate soeciety more and more it will be recognised that Froebel's highest work was bis loving c'-operation with the mother in watching and controlling the spiri rial deve'opir.ent of her child So the kinder- ' garten is conferring an in iknlable I .blessing upon the mothers of tho land, none the lers valuable becavse it is i ot yet fully appreciated, In the crowded districts oJ.a great city it is a blessed §rk to §Mm the ragged little ores b wash and dot! e :m, feed pent, ard smile upon them, | ind in a hundred wafs .show them :» :■' glimpseof.a, Witter life. But tho real . Kindergartener's work is to take these children, and the children of the other 1 classes in society-as well, and teach a 1 of them the first steps in a nolle, useful life.