WOMAN'S WORLD.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 166, 7 August 1909, Page 1

WOMAN'S WORLD.

DOMESTICATING THE DAUGHTER. Says a Melbourne paper:—The idea of teaching home-making is appealing •vith much force to many teachers. It has been appealing silently, but insistently, for years. The teachers, both in public and in private schools, are hardly to blame, because they have had to follow a conventional road in the matter . *f education. There are still thousands ' of parents who have' their daughters taught painting and music because th;'se arts are "ladylike," and who think the girl with a smattering of French far imarter than the girl who can make her own dresses and cook the family ilinner. There is much prejudice to be overcome at home before domestic economy in .schools is honored as it ought_ to be. The most important missionaries in this respect are the girls who have already been trained. In one home, where the family numbered Seven, I the eldest girl, a State school trainee, I is mistress in a quite delightful kitchen. She docs all the cooking, and does it well. She is in no sense a drudge, and lives ti comfortable normal life. Her mother's hands are fully occupied with sewing and housework. The girl in question ii now, fortunately for us all, only one among many. The biggest argument in favor of what domestic training our girls have already had is that they really enjoy and take pride in their work. In most eases much of the household expenditure is trusted to them, and this, developing as it does the administrative instinct, makes responsible and dependable individuals d them. Such girls, given a reasonable allowance for dress and personal exare far better off, financially and otherwise, than the large majority of girts who take up outside employment while a servant is paid to do the work at home.