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Show KATHLEEN NORMS Chaperoning Today More Subtle "It RE THERE NEVER to be any more chaperons, and what can we put in their place?" demands a harassed mother, Madeleine Mad-eleine Thome of Evanston. "I have three girls and two boys, and we've always been proud of our beautiful beauti-ful family," the letter goes on. "But for the last few years the situation has gotten pretty well out of hand and neither Lane nor I know just what to do. "Our oldest girl, Susan-Lee, is 18, Sally-Ann is 16, and Mab, who follows two brothers, only 9. All three girls are pretty, with the red-blonde red-blonde hair and brown eyes of Lane's folks. Both older girls are popular, and they have been dating boys for some years. At first that was simple; they moved in herds of six and eight, and after school parties Lane or I could pick them up at 10:30. Can't Say No "But children get an awful lot of amusement now; something social goes on Friday nights, all day Saturday, Sat-urday, Saturday nights, and Sunday. Sun-day. We simply cannot be with them all the time. My other children chil-dren have rights and demands, and when the older girls say 'may we go, the others are going, Mrs. Smith is letting Gloria go, Elsie's "But do what we will, there are times, a good many of them, when our girls are off with their friends, and nothing would seem stranger than for me or any other adult to go along, sit through the awful shows, yawn at the table in the candy store, accept the youngsters' forced politeness. Long ago, when mothers chaperoned their girls, life was quieter, parties few and far apart, movies and night clubs, soda counters and motor cars and telephones tele-phones unknown, youngsters didn't expect to be amused all the time. "Now do advise me. I want my girls to be happy. I don't want them to be the freaks whose parents lock them up in high towers. They rove me, they trust me and confide con-fide In me completely. I'm never shocked, never affronted or surprised. sur-prised. Help me to do the right thing in these all-important years, because be-cause so soon they'll step Into lives of their own, and understand better bet-ter what is going on now, and what the values of home guidance and influence are." This letter made me think pretty seriously, for no one knows better than I If a mother attempted to chaperon one girl today she would have her time completely filled. No, Madeleine, you can't do It. While you were watching Lee dance, Sally-Ann and her date would be a mile away at a movie. ' ". . . hours of floor walking . . ." brother is going,' what can I say? Can I say 'no, you stay at home and do your needlework and put your bureau in order?' "It's movies mostly now, cokes and hamburgers, and home early. But once or twice lately the near-by movies haven't been attractive, and so 'this awfully nice boy who really drives carefully, Mother, and his father lets him have the car' has taken Lee and Sally-Ann and others further away. And once when Lee was alone on the trip, it was a nice girl's voice at two in the morning, explaining that there had been a bump, no one hurt, nothing to worry about, they were being brought home. . "Nothing to worry about! What do they know of the agonies, the endless hours of floor-walking, watching the clock, telephoning, sitting down to wait again! It isn't as if there weren't accidents; It isn't as if there weren't dangerous danger-ous boys even in high-school groups, for there are. "How can Lane and I keep an eye on them? We've tried to raise our own with high principles, but other families don't. We've tried to warn them of the dangerous and stupid things that can happen but when did youth ever take that seriously! se-riously! Keep Things Going "Being friendly with their friends, letting them have friends in their own home, supplying pop and cookies cook-ies after school we do all that! Lane is nice with the girls' friends; to get things started we used to superintend pencil games, keep things going. |