Show KATHLEEN NORRIS let truth and tenderness guide ONTE LIFE would be a differ ent thing if 1 our husbands and fathers would just relax that is what more than women wrote me in answer to a question I 1 asked about new nev years resolutions some women answered this questionnaire and that was the decision of one third of thern them dad is too stern they say too absorbed in his own thoughts he notice the children he take any interest in home affairs off airs he sleeps at home eats cats hides behind a n newspaper e ws sits close cloie to the radio shouts shout s out that theres too much noise and presently goes up to bed without a goodnight to anyone the consensus on dad mother wants his resolution to be toward a more gracious manner toward kindly interest in his family participation in home affairs well my comment on that involves another resolution this one respecting mother mother can do more than anyone else to accomplish this to encourage an affectionate welcome tor for dad every night conil confidences dences from the children table games weekend week end plans letters from dods dads from the letters I 1 get from men and they come in about one in 10 I 1 gather that dad often needs more in the family circle of what some old writer beautifully described as the essentials of a happy marriage marriaga truth and tenderness very often dad get either at horne home even the small children learn to conceal things from dad soften stories for his benefit tool fool him all along the line lie he knows it lie he knows mother is in a con conspiracy conspire spira cy ith 0 close to the radio with the children to get more money from him to hide school troubles to hush him up it if he tries to interfere the result Is apt to be that when he does break in he feels like an angry interloper he says more than he means At mothers others face becomes a mask of endurance and the small son or daughter weeps and shouts that daddys daddes Dad dys mearil sometimes it has given me a real heartache to cotic with what calm superiority a woman will place b barriers or biers between her husband and his is children naturally enough during the difficult nursery years she has been busy caring hushing minimizing irn izing the incessant difficulties ot of her job as mother later she carries carrie this on in a sort of instinctive jealousy and possessiveness without realizing it she wants them still to ali comp to ta her for or favors pleasures gifts permissions they hardly know their father because mother has been so persistent with her bright run along daddy and see your movie tony and beverley think rather stay with mummy dont bother daddy with your homework home dear walt wait until daddy goes and well fix it all up le leave ave her to me dear she naughty we wa just awaken awakened awak enod d too soon dian didn t we darling A Dam Danie serous rou time pleasantly excluded in this fashion daddy finds find his own amuse merits ments and sometimes his own company neither he nor his wife realizes that this time when children are leaving nursery days when she has more freedom and the children more understanding Is a dangerous time it Is a time that demands real intelligence on the part of husband and wile wife they must shift their positions to meet it the father must win his way into the friendship and interest of his children the mother must more and more let them go deliberately sharing her responsibility for them her love and her companionship so dads resolution tomorrow when 1951 comes to this troubled and puzzled world may well be that he will concentrate his care upon this home group whatever imperfections and outrages and wrongs shake the old planet his loved ones will be growing nearer and nearer toward home chappin happiness ess for it la Is home happiness that will always be the very root of world pence peace and mother must take to her heart those magical words truth and tenderness tenderness when he comes home tired ired A smile from the busy woman in the kitchen a small child trotting in with a warming cup of hot soup on a cold night a gangly gawky hoarse voiced boy shutting off the radio long enough to ask if dad got his feet wet and to thank him for leaving money tor for the game ticket and truth truth Is everything truth about bills paid and unpaid about the inevitable shocks and disappointments that even the best children contrive to provide truth about everything mother needs to know that dad keeping any secrets good ot 01 bad from the woman he loves and dad in his awkward sort of way wants to have a share in everything that touches the lives ol of the growing children and their mother |