Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1893-02-09
The Child and Its Rights.

&
You bave invited an immortal 10 come
INTO your temporary keeping, ana you
have only .he right 20 treat lhai ~
revercnt trust committed % you TOT z
while. which you are 10 schorge win
the highest and mob csl responsibility
which vou can aTIaiu That Is your
rigLf over your child People have had
Iu the ua-t au idea. and many people
think SIR. th.t they have right 10
use the service, the brains, the play sical
strength. 1T tie caili 81, mere adjunct
of HE family. SIS d source II income
fla fasugI. III m0lher &c very poor, and
.he child cumpreteads he situation.
generally layre need be no force to lead
the child 10 t.o what ii can ~ add to the
general support But the right Of The
father TO compel him is "A very llml ed
one indeed. aud il stops a long way
short ct the right to sacrifice the well
fare, the future, Ct that lite, to even
this Xigencv-
Even for the sake Of appeasing hung
er IN the home, ] say no father, no
mother has 4 right to sacrifice the tut
ure of the child, so that in the years to
come the child shall feel, / have not
had half an opportunity to become what
was possible to me- " What rights have
parents in regard to exaCting instant,
immediate obedience on the part of
children, and inhicting punishment? l
think all fathers and mothers, if they
will carefully look back on their lives,
will confess TO themselves that more than
one bali the time when they have quick
" said YES or no to q child, it has been
a matter of thoughtless impulse, instead
of aRy deliberate judgment as to what
was best for the child. Now you have
no right, you have not the shadow Of
the shade of a right, 10 cOeTca and
compel the child into the shape Of your
own impulses, your own va2aries, your
own fancies, your own whims.
Some years ago | heard a man say,
and he said it as though he were prais-
ing his father: my father took no non
sense from his boys If they didn' {
mind him at the first word, he would
knock them down" do not consider
that very manly for a man; and should
consider il pretty mean for q bruto.
What right have father and mother,
merely as matter Of impulse ef within.
to exact this or that, and then compel
the child. mt any extremity, to meet
their peculiar notions} That is barbar-
ism, not civilization. 1t Is unworthy OF
men aud women. You have the right
only to study the nature of your child;
to try to find out what is best for the
child's development. And then com
pei that? Yes, so far as you can with
out injuring tho child. More taan that
YOU have no right to do But always
let the child understand that it is not
your whim. not your arbitrary wish.
but that it is your calm and deliberate
Judgment as 10 what is best for the
child. Then the child will learn 10
respect you. even though he may differ
from you in judgment
This matter OF furnishing children in
the past has been carried 10 the extreme
81 barbarism; and think That the say
mg attributed 10 Solomon bot that
solomon could never have been the
author OF. it he was half rs wise as he
was reputed -"Spate the rod. and spoil
the child. has been the cause of no
end of child abuse and of unhappy
homes. believe that YOU should rath-
en- reverse the saving, A thousand
llluta LlNIN tulluIbu uhht UtCu HPtiltus
ruined, by the rod than have ever been
ruined by the lack of it. You have no
right 10 punish child merely because
you feel like it, And here again most
fathers and mothers will confess that
they have been in the habit of furnishing
children under the impulse of anger.
out of personal spite; not as the result
of the calm. deliberate judgment that
they were doing the child service,
that they were helping the child to be
what he ought TO be. The answer of
the boy To his father is pertinent here;
and the solemnitY OF the meaning will
be none the less il YOU smile John
ny said the father, do YOU know why
| am going to whip yods expecting. or
course, confession ON The part OF the
child OF the particular dereicton which
he had beer guilty OF But the boy
replied. Yes, father. know il ~
because YOU are bigger than am
That Is generally the reason. You have
no lights OF tins SORT You have only
the right to train the child 10y love, by
force il must be, htt to train the child
into the noblest and highest ideals Of
right; TO let the child feet that you are
the ervant of that which is highest and
uoblest in YOU, and that the one thing
You arc 70 do is to cultivate and devel-
op that ia him. There is one other
right which is often claimed which |
wish emphaticallv To deuy. There are
young men and women whom fathers
and mothers never allow To grow up
whose lives are absorbed bv the selfish
moss If n8rautal l0yP know paSpS