Salt Lake Telegram | 1932-06-02 | Page 6 | Your Baby and Mine

Your Your Baby And Mine By Dy MYRTLE l MEYER METER ELDRED TOO UNSELFISH CHILD WINS MOTHERS MOTHER'S DESPAIR The child who huddles over his array rray of toys and will not share a n single ingle one is matched by the child who insists on generously bestowing her toys upon anyone kind en enough ouCh to pIa play with her The mother of neither the overly overl selfish nor the distressingly dis- dis unselfish child is pleased i She alms aims to instill in her child a are re- re for her toys a joy In their possession pos pos- session and a friendly desire to share them hem Mrs G. G J. J is fearful of ot destroying her daughters daughter's unselfish nature if it she refuses to allow her to give her toys away Yet she is justly annoyed at having her part as freely with an expensive doll as with a cent 10 ball The child seems to have no sense of values and her expensive toys have had to be retrieved from the neighbors neighbors neighbor's neighbors neighbor's neigh neigh- bors bor's children whose sobbing explanations explanations ex ex- arc are She gave them themo to o us WARPED VIEWPOINT The unselfish child is a n problem for tor or this is an appealing characteristic and a mother dislikes to stunt its growth But there is a warped understanding un un- of economic values which the child needs to have corrected The problem may be handled in several several sev sev- eral ways Let the child be told that sharing and giving away are two different things Likewise so long as she Is not paying for her own toys she is putting the burden of her generosity upon her parents who have provided provided provided pro pro- vided her with these toys and naturally naturally nature ally expect her to cherish them She Shel can be made to see that if she gives away awny the product of possessions rather than the things themselves she can enjoy the emotion of giving without without with with- out depreciating ng her own store Let Lether Lether her color pictures sew doll clothes make bean bags mold a clay animal and give these away TOO MANY TOYS Possibly the child has too many toys and their possession has no meaning to her The expensive tricycle trio tri cycle is of no more value than the ball about which her mother says carelessly If It it wont won't bounce throw it away Ill I'll get you another one next time I go down town There arc parents who make a practice of using a new toy as a bribe iribe for good behavior or of buying buy buy- ing ng an inexpensive toy each time the they shop both practices minimizing the value of toys and lessening the childs child's sense of appreciation RESPECT In the early years the parents parent's respect respect re re- re for lor the childs child's collection of ol stones bits bils of string battered spoons and whatnot will vilI in turn give the child an appreciation for those toys with which she is presented Because Because Because Be Be- cause they are gifts gills and because she has learned that possessions do have havea a value she wont won't be in a hurry t to urge them upon some some visiting child for the sake of the fine glow which she experiences when thanked by the grateful recipient When the child is old enough for foran foran foran an allowance it can be made plain to her that if she is anxious to give gifts she he may bu buy them herself Then if the parent does not hurry to tc replace the money she has spent recklessly upon another the child chile will understand that unselfishness rightly entails personal self sacrifice I By such methods one hopes that the child will understand how to be generous generous gen gen- erous without being improvident and forcing others to pay for her gen gen- Tomorrow Difficult Teething ng I Avoids Avoid Well Nourished nab Baby 4