BRINGING UP THE CHILD

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 August 1938, Page 8

BRINGING UP THE CHILD

SOME SUGGESTIONS. Here are a few suggestions: In any. home there must be rules. As far as the child is concerned make as few as possible, but those that are made must be kept. There are the rules concerned with the child’s physical welfare, e.g., the correct times for going to bed, having meals, the type of food allowed. Then there are important social habits, such as punctuality, “ cleanliness, tidiness. The methods adopted in upholding those rules so that the children form desirable habits are very important, because the habits usually remain permanently only if they are formed happily and without prolonged resistance. > Again, parents should not allow children to take possession of every room in the house, to jump up and down on the furniture, to play and make a noise in the rooms when adults need rest. The children should have all the freedom possible for activity and noise outside; and they should, if possible, have a room or space in the house, where they can do as they please, but they must learn to respect the rights and property of others.

The method by which this is done is important, if consideration for others and not resentment is to result. And it is important also to remember that these results can only come gradually, for the child has no knowledge of what is right and wrong until he learns by experience. And we must also remember that self-control and thoughtfulness are difficult even for adults, so that the child needs patient and sympathetic help in the forming of these habits.