The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1894-07-12
cENsuRr AND PRAISE.
A Kindergarten Tells when and How
They should be Used.

They should be Used
"When to Censure and When to
Praise was the subject OF the lec-
ture given by Miss Harrison, Of the
Chicago kindergarten college at the
high school lately. says the St Paul
Pioneer Press. The lecture was pre-
ceded by the answering of several
written questions which had been
handed in to Miss Harrison. The
first, What Is the Value of the
Study of Infant Pschycologyw Miss
Harrison replied to this that she
did not perceive any distinction be-
tween infant psychology, and gem
eral psychology, excepting that
the former was q stage of the
latter The value OF such study is
in enabling the person in charge OF
child TO avoid overcrowding and
overstimulating it's mind. Another
query was as to the value OF fairy
tales in education OF children. Miss
Harrison believes that there are
fairy tales and fairy tales, but that
the value of the best of these is
great In developing the imagination
and counteracting the natural ten
denotes of the age The remaining
questions were similar to these.
Proceeding to the subject of the
morning Miss Harrison said that
praise and censure embody much OF
the clouds and sunshine OF life, and
that injustice is one of the cruelest
of mistakes. The first thing to in
quire is, ''why do we praise or con-
demnpn Is it not because the child
does or does not live up to our own
idealsp" Then it should be asked
ssHow can we lea5 others to accept
our idealsp" How is the command
sThou shalt" to be transformed
into Il mustp" Here begins the
development into the dependent or
the independent man or woman.
The first thing to do is to be the
thing you would have your child be.
The child is quick to see it when
the parent or teacher falls short.
Conscience has been defined as the
power of ''seeing what you are in
the light of what you ought to be- /"
Praise and censure are the two
great instruments by which con-
science is to be stimulated.
To what instinct should praise and
censure appeal? The love of recog-
milton and appreciation is Unborn in
every icing. The natural effort is
to try to please and live in harmony
with those about us. Rightly de-
yeloped this instinct becomes that
proper regard for public opinion by
! which all but the lowest or tho
| highest natures are affected There
are wrong ways OF praising, such as
, appealing to vanity and laughing at
clever naughtiness. Praise which
! emphasizes the external and tempo
F.! rary alone is always wrong. Praise
| which is partly insincere, such as
| mothers sometimes give their chill
dren before guests, is always wrong.
! The right kind of praise is given
quietly, but seriously, for any actual
! conquest that the mother knows the
child to have achieved. One mother,
knowing that her little daughter had
won victory over bad temper,
pinned little note to the child's pill
low at night, telling of the happi-
ness it had given her. Another.
whose son had taken the first steps
towards mastering grave fault,
=! gave him picture of Michael An
gelo's '.David" to hang in his bed.
! room; telling him it was a mile stone
in his life. 1t Is best to particular
ize in the requirement that is to be
made of child. Do not say 'sBe 6
good boy this morning." but mention
some special thing to be remembered
and follow itlup. Inquire whether
or not that demand has been met.
] and praise or censure accordingly.