Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1893-01-26
WOMAN AND HOME.
FOOLISH AND DANGEROUS METHODS
OF PUNlSHlNG CHILDREN.

a Model Cycling Costume - Decline of
Ncedlework-Womeni in the Home Cir
c,e-lessors That Are Needcd-Infor-
nation for Maid and Matron.
Said n mothcrly old soul who has been n
professional nurse Il good many years. II
believe one of the domestic training schools
we need most is a school for mothers and
nursegirls, or at least II course of severe
lessons On the punishment of children. OF
course children must be punished. know,
too, that we have progressed very materi-
ally in this way. The father nowadays who
would wallop his boys With trunk strap
kept hanging handy by the buckle behind
the kitchen door, as was common enough
when was a child, would he in danger Of
an oyerhauling by the Society for tho Pre-
vention CT Cruelty to Children. But we
have other ways, some quite as serious in
their effects, not only on the character of
the child but physically as well.
Boxing the ears is an altogether too COM
mon mode of punishment among all sorts
of mothers. When man Furnishes a child
it's usually serious matter, for they sol
dom do it unless angry, and they have no
conception of the force of the blows they
administer.
AT free dispensary on the west side
more than dozen cases of deafness in little
children have been treated, every enc of
which was due to a fracture of the ear
drum caused by a blow on the side of the
head Quite naturally child's eardrums
are weaker and thinner than those of an
adult, and even if the membrane is not
broken inflammation is likely to be caused
bya blow and to result in impaired hearing
A blow on the ear causes the air to rush
suddenly and with great force against the
eardrum much in the same way that a
wave in the surf would do except that the
conclusion of the air makes the force of the
latter more powerful and consequently
harmful.
Keeping the children after school is an
other barbarous mode of punishment. In
the first place it gives the child the impress
sion that school is a sort of punishment,
and his being kept later is simply prolong-
ing the torture Besides, children, as a rule,
are kept in the schoolroom long enough and
should be let out into the fresh air as soon
a. possible Besides it Furnishes the teach
er, who is often oyerworked and tired as
well rs the child.
We known mothers to wonder why
the children were SO timid and easily
frightened when they themselves had often
shut those same children in Il dark closet
for the most trivial offenses. Such a pun
ishmcnt frequently affects childs brain,
brings on spasms and sometimes results in
the death of sensitive child from the ter
ror inspired.
do | really believe children ought to be
punished at all' Why, of course Both
rewards and punishments are necessary for
children. If a child is very unruly or bad
tempered it is because of his mothers lack
of training or because of inherited tenden-
cies, and in either case justice ought to be
tempered with mercy. If child is posi-
lively cruel there is no way but to make
him feel the pain he inflicts There are two
things only for which child should be
Observation-Disclosures and untruthful-
uess-and if a child is taught to do right
for rights sake and not for fear of punish
ment very little punishment will so long
ay."-Chicago Post.