Show By IRIS For more than fourteen years I J have been busily engaged in raising children Although they are a joy problems do crop up ILLNESS IS one because little drawings and tales about their teachers arent aren't the only things children bring home from school They also bring mumps chicken pox measles and pinkeye Any mother who has ever been housebound through three cases of mumps contracted at twenty-one twenty day intervals deserves a medal And that same mother who gets chicken pox after nursing three children through the disease deserves heartfelt sympathy There are shots shots to be sure but even these can be a problem When I took my youngest to the clinic for her kindergarten up check-up she politely declined the smallpox inoculation until she thought to ask Is that the hole in your arm with ruffles on it When I ass assured a s s u red r e d her it was was she accepted the needle and she is proud of the hole with the ruffles From her conversation conversation conversa conversa- tion I gather that the children in her class compare smallpox scars and the one with the biggest it IT THE PROBLEM of food covers a whole list of worries all by itself When the children were small I worried because they didn't eat enough I have days now when I J recall that worry with longing Tomy To Tomy Tomy my teen age son home is where the heart is all right but his heart from all indica indications lions is located in his stomach Home is where the food is His sisters dont don't quite keep up with him when it comes to making off with the groceries but they work at it My husband hus bus band threatens to plow up the back lawn and sow it to edibles Either that or train the offspring to eat cat crabgrass Ive I've heard other mothers complain because because be he- cause their siblings iblings fight Mine dont don't Except when they're awake C. After trying with no notable success to umpire some of their brawls I gave guve up Now I make only one fl I. I stipulation that stipulation that they go outside to bleed ANOTHER PROBLEM is the way children children children chil chil- dren insist on growing growing up up out and all the time A pair of or slacks for my son still has new creases when the cuffs come down And those creases arent aren't smoothed out when a six inch gap appears between shoe and pants The dresses my daughters wear inch up their knees almost from day to day and their shoes dont don't wear out Their toes bang against the end before the shines shine's worn off Homework however is no longer a lem What my children bring in these days isn't in a foreign language but it might as aswell aswell well weIl be I was lost with the old timey math when the sight of a fraction could ruin my whole day I never half recipes My math cant can't stand the strain Once trying to make half of something I asked my husband husband husband hus hus- band in all an seriousness half of two- two thirds thirds' He never let Jet me forget it So when mv my children bring me a page of modem modern modern mod mod- em ern n math and ask for help I smile sweetly and tell them teacher says mothers arent aren't arent aren't to help I haven't thought it necessary to say this mother is unable BUT AS FAR as Im I'm concerned the i biggest problem in raising children is the help parents get The dos and fly thick and fast from the pages of newspapers newspapers newspapers news news- papers and magazines and from the mouths of friends relatives and neighbors Every Every- Everyone one has the formula for raisin raising model children children chil chil- dren these days Except parents Once I attended a seminar on child raising I went home from every class cluss convinced I was doing everything wrong When I J eventually reached the point where I wasn't sure whether I should drown the children I already had and start over or just lust drown myself I quit the class NOW I PLAY it by ear car I handle the problems as they crop up just being sure I provide de enough discipline plenty of love and lots of good hot food V r. r |