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Show KATHLEEN NORRIS Most Men Don't Like Small Boys senses with joy when our boy was born 18 years ago," writes a Los Angeles mother. "At that time we had two girls of 9 and 11, and for years Chester had complained that he had no son. The careless way he would answer, 'yes, we've got a couple of girls!' hurt me terribly ter-ribly though I never said so. "When Lawrence was born his actions hurt me just as much: he chattered and telephoned about the boy, made me presents, acted as he never had about Persis and Vonnie. For a year or two the baby could do no wrong; then our fourth child' and third daughter, Jacqueline, was born, and from that moment he never had any more use for the long-desired long-desired son. The older girls were smart students, never had any trouble In school. Larry was slow. Offered Prayer "During this time, I advised,, talked, prayed, saw teachers, helped with homework, punished, rewarded. reward-ed. Chester, my husband, took no part in this. Our daughters married; mar-ried; he did the correct fatherly thing, grandchildren came, we have five, and he is proud of them. But to Larry he gave only criticism, impatience, im-patience, intolerance. That boy would have to wake up, that boy couldn't get away with it, that boy thought fathers were made of was born, has no patience. Martha is ruining that kid. Friendship with one's children is a thing of slow growth, and like all other friendships must depend upon liking, sympathy, understanding, and the flattery of occasional outbursts out-bursts of affection, occasional presents, pres-ents, and a very open desire to share that friend's company whenever when-ever possible. How many men give these to that dumb, open-eyed, coke-and-movies-and-comics - demanding little fellow who has broken his pencil, lost his rubbers, spilled his milk, and whined about school for the hundredth time at this morning's morn-ing's breakfast? The other day, I saw a list of three rules for fathers. Perhaps they were for mother, too, but if father gets started on them mother will cooperate. They were: (1) Give your child religion. Give him that very definite sense that means he is happy when he is unselfish, obedient and good, because there is some spirit In us that feels and corresponds corre-sponds with a higher power than we ever can understand, and its reward re-ward is happiness. (2) Set your child a high example. (3) Make him feel as you do yourself, a responsible respon-sible unit in his family and group and community. money, that boy could telephone nis crowd he couldn't go. If Larry ever was sneaky or sullen it was when his father was around. Jackie could do no wrong, but with Larry It was scene after scene. "Well, Larry, now In Korea, Is superb at 18. He is strong, friendly, simple, immensely popular, and a wonderful son to me. For his father he has only a respectful politeness. which disappoints and Daixies unest-er. unest-er. He wants his tall son to be his pal; he wants to boast to his friends that he and Larry are like brothers. He reproaches me as having de- . . like brothers . . fleeted the boy's confidence and affection. af-fection. "But how could It be otherwise when for years Chester has avoided the outings I planned for them, signed report cards which left him only indifferent or angry, and invented in-vented excuses that saved him the bother of taking a small boy off for a Sunday with his father? My years of "why don't you take Larry?' never bore fruit. Small boys are greedy, exacting, destructive, boring, bor-ing, and most men don't like small boys. "Understandable enough. But then why that uproar when the baby is a boy, why that glumness when it's another girl? Why the cigars?" Frequent Question This, Elena, is a question women often ask themselves. Because a boy is slower than a girl to develop manners, character, studiousness, it is his mother who must be patient with the boy, and stand by him And with this position his father, who was so rapturously, fatuously, self-congratulatory when the boy |