OCR Text |
Show OUR CHILDREN SB liy ANGKI.0 I'ATRI FORCING RIGIITNESS rt)U might as well give up. You cannot force rlghtness. Itlght-ness Itlght-ness comes of right thinking nnd thinking think-ing Is the opposite of force. You can force a child's body, for a time, but you ennnot force hla thinking for a single Instant. You have to cultivate his thinking by suggestion, example, situation, but you have to leave the result to til in. Two wrongs do not make one right. Suppose the young person Is thinking wrong. Will It help hlin to think right If you linposo the weight of your authority au-thority to make think right? Not a thought's worth. When you command lilin to think your way by forcing blm to obey your command! you do two things. You Increase his distaste for your Idea. You Increase his fultb In his ow n Idea. He will resolve to prove himself right at the first chance. That means the first time he Is free of your authority he will try out his own way. He may be very wrong. That means he Is In grent need of your belp. Study how you can put the right Idea before him so that he cnn see It Children nre not wilfully blind. One day young Peter asked his father fa-ther to gl-c him permission to sail the boat nlone from his dock to one a mile away, all tiy himself. "1 want to be all nlone by myself with nobody with me." Futher knew the boat win not snfe. Instead of snylng emphatically. "No sir, you cnn do no such thing." he said. "Well. I'll make a bargain with you. F irst you show me that yon can man-nge man-nge the bont with me as a passenger. I'll promise not to open my mouth or lift a finger. If you cnn muke It, all right. I'll give you a license to sail aluiie. If you don't then we go on as usual." The two set sail for the point Inside In-side of five minutes both were In the lake. Father reached for Peter, hauled li I tii alongside nnd both swam for the shore. After It was all over and they were clothed nnd rested once mere, Peter said, "1 owe you an apology for dumping dump-ing you Into the lake, dad" "Not at nil." snld father. "It wasn't your fault. You nre a good sailor. The boat Is topheavy. The mast and sail are for a much bigger boat Your uncle can manage It but you can't When you get a decent boat you'll sail her all right" I suggest cooperation, reason, help, w hen the child thinks one way and yon nre certnin In another. Authority Is to be used only In emergencies and emergencies are In their nature, few nnd far between. A lifetime span Is more common than not Life Is a leisurely matter after all. It takes more than seventy years to come to Its full flavor for most of os. HURRY IT IS not for nothing that hurry and worry are always tied In the same breath. Hurry Is first cousin to worry. One brings the other. The person who Is always In a hurry Is not a well balanced bal-anced Intelligence. He has allowed one thing to get ahead of another, instead in-stead of trying to keep all of them In their plnces. He has done either too much or too little and done it too early or too late Hurry won't cure that There Is a difference between speed nnd hurry. Speed Is a controlled swiftness that Is accurate and timed to the dot Hurry Is a fluttering haste thnt may or may not arrive. Speed Implies thought and accuracy. Hurry Implies neglect and panic When children have to hnrry to get out to school In the morning they are In poor shape to begin the day. I need not tell you about the half-eaten breakfast, the clothes tossed 03 any way. the forgotten things, the Irritations Irrita-tions and the setbacks of the morning hurry. It all leaves the child breathless breath-less and in a state of mental confusion. The morning start must begin the night before. Things must be laid ready for the morning. Send the children chil-dren out in a calm rather than In the hurry of storm and the whole day will go better for everybody. Children are likely to put ofT things that they ought to do until the last moment Then they hurry. That kills all benefit the work might have conferred con-ferred upon them. When be suddenly starts np and shouts, "Gee whiz, 1 forgot Our monthly theme has to be In tomorrow. Quick. Somebody lend me a pen. Got any theme paper, Bess? Ma, I have to go down to the store for theme paper. pa-per. How do you know he hasn't any? Then I'll have to go down to Billy's house and borrow some from him. Gee whiz. I forgot all about It Ma, how do you spell constitution? There. That'll have to do. I'll get by anyway." That lesson did not catch. Hurry Is born of poor organization. When one plans and follows the plan there Is no need for hurry save in the emergencies. The children can be trained to avoid the appearance of hurry. They can have a schedule and follow It closely enough to save them this strain. The home that eliminates hnrry is a strong force for success in the lives of Its children. Hurry's password is Maybe. That is not good enough for us. We need to h certain. Bell Syndicate. WNTJ Service. |