| Show K KDOROTHY DOROTHY DOROTHYE PIX UX T TALKS 1 E B DOROTHY Dt DIX the Worlds World's nl I 1 1 1 Woman oman 1 Writer riter THE MODERN MOTHER HAS THE MOST DIFFICULT CAREER ON ONEARTH SHE EARTH SHE MUST BE DIPLOMAT DIETITIAN TRAINED NURSE AND PSYCHOANALYST PSYCHO ANALYST A A WOMAN aks a k me it iC I will write rite an aee article on the Modern Mother Molher I I dont don't know just what phase pf p the subject my mv cOlre ent ent wishes mo me to discuss but Im I'm here to say eay ay that the modern mol mothe he follows the most difficult end and nd arduous ca career career career 1 reer on earth md nd the one the I most wisdom the roost most courage and the thet I most subtlety ty and tact t tji ji t L 1 I IFor For It it IS not more difficult to know r 11 I whether we should Join the League of j i I Nations or not than It is s to know whether whether I Ier er Mary should be permitted to Join a f I sorority In the high school It takes takesI I just as much backbone t to enforce dis ds discipline in the home as a It does dots In the army and no diplomat needs more to have the tho th iron hand In the velvet glove than does doc the th woman who keens keen her children herded In the straight and j narrow way without their ever finding I out that they are being gently but firm firmI I ly Iy coerced into righteousness DOROTHY DIX In olden times any female could turn out a competent oo as a mother and call It a day All she had hall to 10 do was as as 10 to produce product the wash ash them when hen they were dirty feed them when they w were er re hungry pank them when they a were ere re bad and kiss them hen they were good rood That was all there was to It IL ILIf It If It her children grew crew up strong and healthy find and md made decent citi- citi citizens citizens citi citizens zens she the took great credit to herself asa asa good moth mother r If they were sickly and die she he laid all the blame on Providence which had lied m ms s afflicted her and it never neer occurred to her that she he was as as In Inny any anyay ny way ay responsible for the little era ves In the cemetery The Th modern mother has no such uch comfort She Is acquaint acquaInt- acquainted ed with the th germ theory and she the knows know that her childrens children's live lives are In her hands If H she he doesn't see that the baby's milk Is sterilized and his hl bottle botti clean and that the older children are aro kept from Infection she ah knows know that they thy my may die because i of her neglect and that if t they do she sh Is I just Ju t as much their murderess murderess as at If she the had slain them with her own hands handt l IGNORANCE IGNORANCE used to be b an alibi for mother but It isn't nowadays The Th modern modem mother has to know about sanitation and and h glene and dietetics and how to gh gie Ivo e first aid to the Injured and how to admin admin- adminIster administer ister later home horn treatments all the th way from rom calomel to Coue she for for she cant can't shunt ihunt her duty of looking after the health of her family on the Lord an ani more It la lis s up to her to keep them l well and look out their adenoids and their and their teeth If It children in the past weri ere a II problem their mothers never sus- sus suspected suspected sus suspected U it and dull ones one nervous temperamental chIl chIldren dren and phlegmatic ones one were all brought up according to the same sarno general rule on the tir optimistic theory that the would turn out all allright allright allright right when hen they were ere cro grown Iown and that raising children a nab a matter of luck anyhow i ITh The modern mod rn mother knows that each ach child It Js an Individual enIgma With Ith its Ita own secret locked In Its little breast and that the she he must this thi riddle If she h Is It to help It to Its finest development She Sh knows know that the timid child must mutt be b encouraged and the th bold one on suppressed that some chIldren can only be b controlled through their affections affection and othern othera by brute force and that the method that works work with one child II I an utter failure with another Not the tho th least leut of her h r obliga obligation tion as a mother Is I to psycho analyze the tho th little toddlers toddler at her knee In the th good old days were ere ere obedient to authority and looked up to their parents parent as a as oracles Mother picked out th the e girls I 04 clothes and the th girls tills wore ore them without protest because they thought that mother molher knew best beaL Mother said when ihen hen a girl could put up her haIr and be grown crown grO n Mother In United ted such uch oung people n liS as she the thought proper to the tho th house and mother knew when and where her daughters went and generally went sent along aloni with aith them The modern mother has no such uch soft loft oft snap map Her children are the th product of a lawless age ag and they snap their th lr fingers In derision at the th very idea of parental authority They Thy mal mallove mallove mallov love mother but they have no Idea of obeying her or of abat abate abating ing ono one on Jot or tittle of their personal liberty THEREFORE T the i modern mother must be a diplomat of oC tho the first class In order to control her children She Sh must mutt camouflage her object In order to Induce indue her flapper daughter to cover her ber a few Cew more layers layer ot of chiffon She must mutt learn lea to dissemble her under the torture of oC jazz bands band and to conceal how shocked she he is at at man many of oC the things that the tho generation do for by learning lo 0 speak her childrens children's language can canine she make mak them listen to her ber at all The modern mother has hai to get her childrens children's point of before she can mak make them see IF hers and It Isn't easy for a person who ho ho has Fr wn set in her br 0 own on n opinions opinion to do this thia acrobatic feat as It 01 es some grand erand and lofty tumbling of oC Ideas Idea Nevertheless it 1 must bo be bedone done for mother must go co the pace paci with aith her children or else ell they run un runaway runaway away from her The modern mother cannot rule hr hor children by brute force She Sh must mut do It by secret Influence by subtle propaganda ganda by keeping up with the times time so 10 that they respect her knowledge of the th world by being broad minded so 0 that they are willing to abide abid by her opinion opInions T IS a strenuous life that ot of the th modern mode mother But Dut there are mil mU millions million IT UT I lions of oC women who aho ho are meeting Its it every e ery requirement ment and rearing e modern modem children to be bo better men and women wi e hope than their fathers and mothers were DOROTHY DIX Copyright 1923 by Public Ledger Company |
