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Show OUR CHILDREN as Hy ANCKI.O i'ATItl THE UNTRUTHFUL ONES I ITT 1. 10 children havo Home difll-eult.v difll-eult.v In keeping tact and fantasy apart. To them they are very close. They look nboiit alike to tho eyes ot childhood because those eyes have not functioned In the world of reality. It Is not hard to know that sort of untruth and to set It right. The -t 1 f licit li-cit 1 1 sort Is that which ap.ienrs or rather continues to appear on thro gh adolescence. When in adolescent tells yon any kind of n story to head you In a direction di-rection that renders him safe, when be lies to you III cold deliberation, you have the right to fear for his condition, condi-tion, lie needs Immediate attention. Many times theso adolescent children chil-dren are In the grip uf sen urges that Ihi-y know nothing about. The little Instruction they have received Is not enough to carry them through the terrific ter-rific onrush of feeling, sensation, whatever you choose to term It. that besets them. In their endeavor to maintain themselves In any degree of comfort they make mistakes, then lie out of them as best they can because they are afraid to tell the truth. There Is no use In telling them to tell you the truth and yon won't blame them. They are ashamed, afraid, Inarticulate. When you find yourself In such a fix a s this wasie no time, Go to the specialist. I I ml the ore who knows adolescent children. Try to find a s. e rlallst who l serving In a hospital or clinic where such young people are treated. Tel him or her the stor. nnd put your afflicted child under treat meiit. Lies i.re Indications of a pathological patho-logical condition. All the Rcoldlng In the world v mi'l help them. You need thh skilled psychiatrist, neurologist, physician. Sometimes fear drives children into telling lies That sort of lie Is as easily detected as the other. Try to find what sort of fear Is troubling the child and do your best to remove It I If you cannot find the fear and vou : see that the child Is suffering from It, ' lake him to the specialist and hnve him treated for It, There Is no time to be lost when adolescent children suffer from such Ills. Sympathy Is all very well but what Is needed Is skilled and prompt treatment. Little children nre easily handled as n usual thing. Even among them we find the psycopathlc liar. You w ill know him If he comes your way. Ills stories sto-ries are not Imaginative fairy tales, not the di'fense gesture of helpless childhood, but the tales of fear, distress, dis-tress, oppression and outrageous prowess. prow-ess. Take that child to the doctor. There Is no cause for alarm when a little child strays from facts. Set him right by saying: That is the f,iiry story. Tell me the real one. But when untruthfulness continues on Into adolescence, ado-lescence, call the specialist HAVE AN APPLE I 'M NOT coming tomorry." ' 1 added np the last columu with great deliberation. I could see Ihin In the mirror on the edge of my desk but he couldn't see my face. That Is fair enough because he has many other advantages, among them the recklessness of youth. "So?" said I. leaving my columns with seeming reluctance, "Have an apple." Don looked at me suspiciously but 1 continued to smile at the basket of Rpples. I turned again to the columns and Don turned to the basket, took a tempting ruddy apple and bit Into It Now a boy with a mouthful of Juicy apple simply can't scowl. It can't be done. So he crunched contentedly enough nnd I ran my pencil np and down, down nnd up, until the last bell rang. "There. Give me your card. No need to bother your father with It every night. Come In and get It In the morning. It will be here on my desk signed and ready." "All right. Good afternoon." "Good afternoon. Don. Take another anoth-er apple. That's right Fill up your pockets with them." Don Is a man In size and a child In everything else. He wants to be like the other fellows but he is thirteen and the fellows his size are eighteen He has been put out of a .couple of schools and he has to stay In this one because there Is no other. He can do some work well enough but certain other work like spelling, writing a paragraph from dictation, making a neat mechanical drawing are out. Somehow, some way we must manage to hold him and teach him nt the same time. It was plain he had come down to the otlice in a tearing rage. Lucky I had the apples. Apples are fine for boys anyway. They fill In the empty places that send up such queer feelings nlong about three-thirty. They are good for a lad s teeth. Doctor Tom says they clean them nicely. Doctor Tom ought to know because he used to eat them In my olliee along about three o'clock I'm (hat was when he wasn't a doctor Inst a lopsided gangling thing who annoyed the teachers and his mother nnd me to desperation, 'Twas the apples ap-ples that saved him. I'll tell Felice to send down some more. We had a good crop this year. I'm going to need ihem. Bill SinJIcate. WNU Service. |
