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Show Harsh Daddy, Easy Mother Upset-Child By OLIVE ROBERTS BARTON The hardest task in training children chil-dren is to guess when sympathy ends and compulsion begins. Guess is the word, because the parent doss not live who has been able to tell exactly how far to go with either. To be too strict is unwise, but to find sn excuse in ouMove forjhe child." and allow him to escape the hard spots of life, is dangerous, too There must be a blending of both. Fathers are said to be too strict. And in many cases they are. But usually they are not the heartless people their wives may think. Their pride in their children is Just as great as a mother's pride, and greater at times, but hard sense Is Ukely to rule, instead of the emotional emo-tional fear of the mother. It la true that a soft heart, torn this wsy and that, will often seek escape for i the child to save its own suffering Father Haa Perspective Possibly the most irritating thing John hears at night when he reproves re-proves his son is. "Now, Daddy." from his wife. It implies that Junior's Jun-ior's father is being hard again. I Maybe Junior simply kicks the table ta-ble as he eats, and John has made too much of a trifle, but if Junior I hasn't learned to keep his toes to himself after eight years of telling, then he needs a Jolt. It may be toes, or It may be anything any-thing from general lasiness to downright misbehavior. A father sees progress, or lsrk of It, from day to day, better than a mother, as a general thing, because he gets a perspective by being out of the house. He has the advantage of the stranger almost, who can tell at a glance whether a child has had the right kind of discipline or not. It la true also, of course, that he loses much by his daily absence, snd may fail to see all of the child's good points. And true, unfortunately, unfortunate-ly, children are never at their best I toward evening. Especially little children. The best of them get fret-ful fret-ful before bedtime, even though Ithey do not seem to be tired. And for a fact they save their worst moments until dady comes in the door. These are things a father should know. Another thing he must Impress on his mind is that the so-called misbehavior of the 1 or 4-year-old is not always real misbehavior mis-behavior at all, but the normal development de-velopment of will and self-assertion. This is very Important 1 Rate Discipline on Age However, although discipline before be-fore I or I should be done with an understanding of child rights, it will havs to have a place. Age is the basis of standard. No child of S will be able to conform as well as the child of 10. And, therefore, no small child should be reproved for the same things as an older child. Parents should allow for the view- point of each other. There Is little gained by mothers feeling hurt when fathers step in, or fathers shouting that mothers ars ruining their children. The child needs both, provided everybody doea his shsre of trying and ths general note is confidence and harmony. |