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Show jther is prompted by kindness in remarking to a dinner guest, "That last family bout of pie and cake treated Bob's skin as bad as it did my figure." But it would be kinder to Bob, and save the guest embarrassment, if the boy's skin troubles were ignored. And nothing will saddle a young person per-son with the conviction that he is unattractive so much as being apologized for. "I can't put sweaters and skirts on Jane she is just too fat," may be merely a lament on mother's mo-ther's part because she likes to knit and regrets having a daughter who can't wear her handicraft. But Jane, long after she loses her excess weight, will carry a mental picture of herself as an ungainly child. ' Do, you reveal too much about your children to friends and neighbors? neigh-bors? Nowadays when practically everyone has read a book or two on psychology the temptation to explain our children is stronger than ever. But boys and girls need to be protected from public adjustments ad-justments as much as they need privacy for their emotions. Slater dissected you in public ? Even parents who through family fam-ily pride confine discussions of their children's personality shortcomings short-comings to the family group often of-ten refer apolegetically to Jane's overweight or Bob's blotchy skin. Knowing that Bob is self conscious con-scious about his pimples, his mo- For example, take a boy who has a violent temper. His father, having experienced something of the same struggle, knows the importance im-portance of gaining control of anger. an-ger. He works to help his son overcome over-come this character defect by explaining ex-plaining what it will mean in his adult years to have a temper that hurts even those you love. And he stands by during violent storms with stern appeals to the boy's better nature. But his mother, who can't believe that this furious human hu-man being is her son, explains to all and sundry that Tim inherited his temper from his paternal grandfather. Thinking to excuse her son, she is really violating his right to work out his problems in secret. Then there are those forgetful parents who sigh to their friends over the fact that John or Margaret Mar-garet is difficult because he or she is "going through" adolescence. adoles-cence. If ever a young person needs to feel that the turmoil inside in-side him is his private affair it is during the changes of late puberty. These same parents are probably hurt because their troubled youngsters young-sters don't confide in them as they did when they were children. But would you talk to a friend who |