The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1886-07-17
SHY CHILDREN,
They should Be Strengthened to Bear
Their Misfortune and to Over
come 1t.


come 1t.
Pity the suffcrings of shy children,
stand between these little ones and the
people who unthinkingly inhict pain
upon these tender souls. Why outrage
a child's faith in nature, human and
material, If he has such faith, or prevent
his acquiring it, by taking advantage of
his shyness and want of self-coniidencep
Why fill him with distrust, with fear,
with terror Why convert the world
that should be beautiful to him, into
one that is to be dreaded? Ifthe person
who does these things is anything short
of brute, he is guilty of a serious of
fense that NJ carelessness can excuse.
Courage and confidence should be
stimulated in n child who is shy. He
should be taught to believe that his ex-
treme disgust is ill-founded, by showing
life will then be opened to him, where
all before was desolate. But to inten-
sify this shyness is an easy matter, and
many children have been made to suffer
the pangs of miserable existence
through soaring, terrifying and various
impositions upon their weak
ness. If child is Dashed at the
presence of stranger, confidence in
himself and the stranger also can be
awakened by treating the child with
considerate regard for his feelings and
by gentle pressure behind him that
shall force him to overcome them. But
to expose the infirmity and laugh at it
in ridicule. increase the pain and make
the cure all the more difficult, so that
the sufferer must undergo additional
pains when he grows up and must over
come them the best he may in his un-
avoidable contact with the world.
What gratifying thing i, must be to
scare a child-to fill his heart with hob
goblins, to people the darkness with
monsters. to manufacture surroundings
that necessarily menace harm. This
would be amusement to the savage who
burns his captives at the stake, but to
the person living in this nineteenth
century of civilization it should be as re-
pulsive as savagery itself. How pleas
ing an act it must be to frighten child
to death, as is now and then done, or to
scare the little one till he stands trans
fixed with terror and trembling in
agony.
Strengthen shy children to bear their
misfortune and to overcome it; do not
subject them to ridicule or fear. They
can be led out of the manifold unhappi-
ness arising from shyness, by strength
ening each cautious step until familiar
ity makes it permanent; and so, little
at time, they can be advanced in con-
tidence and courage until they dare to
look about them without fear of failure
or harm. The impressions of childhood
are often almost ineradicable; people
should take care, then, that those I'M
pressions shall be true, hopeful, giving
self-reliance and courage to those who
need it. There can be assault and bat
terry against the feelings as well as
against the body, and the former offenst
is more enduring and more painful thar
the latter. 1t is just as inalienable ;
right that ones feelings shall not be out
ragged as that his bodily liberty shall no
be abridged, and the shy child demand
immunity and protection from thos'
who outrage this right by making him
victim of his shyness. s.-Good Housekeep
ing.