The Questions

Te Ao Hou, March 1967, Page 41

The Questions What kind of person do we want a child to be, and what are the ways of the people that we want to preserve? I think every family and every community must set about answering these questions for themselves. To help answer them, regular family meetings in the community with young children present can be organised, so that when the parents meet, not only do they meet for their own purposes but they also attend to the needs of their children. Just as each adult is busy, so is each child. The concentration of a busy pair of hands, eyes, and ears, is the beginning of real enjoyment for a young child. More than this, young children get on so well together that they can, if they are watched carefully, set an example to adults in matters of co-operation, discussion, talking things over, and working together. Talk and discussion, which are natural to children, have also fortunately been retained as a natural quality in so many Maori people, and out of this naturalness, as more and more families enter the organisation of a play centre programme for their children, I think the way of life of New Zealand as a whole will be immeasurably strengthened. Already in a few short years we have seen the so-called “shyness” of Maori children diminish. We realise clearly that ‘Play Centre’ matters, because even by five years of age a child may be well set in the pattern that he will follow for the rest of his life. A young child quickly learns that a play centre is a safe place in which to explore, to experiment, and to examine what there is around him.