The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1897-10-08
PRICE FIVE CENTS.

L
where the children have more freedom
to move about. Limitations are given
to make the expression clearer, as:
I'VE are going to make a house two
stories highsx One limitation, the rest
of the building may follow the fancy Of
the builder. Sometimes we have three
or four directions, sometimes none.
No more of those long, tedious se-
quences, repeated over and over. to be
the bugbear of every tiny child and
every teacher. How well / remember
that awful sequence play 1 had to give
to the children every Wednesday for
four months. How the children and
teacher hated it! We started with the
cube, then made stove, then a chair.
then two chairs, then the bed. and SO
on to the grand finale in the church
window. Once it probably filled need.
but later, in the hands of an unskilled
kindergarten, it degenerated into it's
present form of terror. A good.
thoughtful sequence play. however.
where there is sequence of thought as
we'll as sequence of form, has It's place
in the kindergarten. One time we may
make all the different kinds Of boxes
we know, another time it will be all
the different pieces of furniture we
would use in a house. / could con-
tinue indefinitely, telling of how our
methods Of today are changing as q
result of this recent movement Of
child-study. We are beginning-only
beginning-to learn something Of the
child and how to reach him; how to
reach his heart and mind through his
body-not in the old-fashioned way Of
flogging-but in the new-fashioned
way of developing. Next in import
ance to the work done in the kinder
garten is the relation of teachers to
parents, or, / may say, simply the par
ents of the child, for the true educator
stands for the parent during several
hours of the day. To further friendly
and cooperative relations, it Is quite
necessary for the teachers to visit the
homes of the children. For this pur-
pose each kindergarten at the discre-
ton of the director closes at IL o'clock
once a month and all the teachers go
home with the pupils. These visits
are also of great assistance to the di-
rector in planning her work, since she
can find out what influences she can
best use to counteract the evil influ-
ences thrown about the child in his
home and on the street. 1t is Of help in
still another way. One of the girls
came to me full of grief, and, / am
sorry to say, anger, over wayward
child whom all her efforts had failed
to conquer. Anxious to get at the root
of the trouble, / gave her an outline to
fill out in regard to the life of the child.
Some of the questions were such as
required her to visit the home to an
swer. Soon she came to me almost In
tears. All her impatience and anger
had changed to pity, and an earnest
desire to help the poor, neglected child
all that lay in her power. From that
day we began to notice an improve
ment.
Next in Importance to the visits in
the homes by the kindergarteners, are
the visits of the parents to the kinder
garten. For this purpose we propose
to have mothers meetings-nice, hap
py affairs,-where the parents and
children shall meet to enjoy the same
entertainment, partake of a few light
refreshments, and depart with a great
er aloha for the kindergartens, and
lasting memory of happy hour. We
may, also, tell them a little of how to
care for their children, as we see they
need from the visits to their homes.
/ could speak at some length OF the
ideal relations which should exist be-
tween the kindergarteners and the pri-
mary teachers, where all are working
together for the greatest good of all.
Only the other day / picked up a pa
per and read: rs the primary school
to reach down it's hand and kill what
is best in the kindergarten, or is the
kindergarten to leaven the whole?"
That question is still to be answered.
So much for the things we can do;
now for the things we hope to do.
"An ounce of prevention is worth a
pound of cure" said wise old philOso-
pher SO we keep out of draughts that
we may not catch cold; we have kim
dergartens that we may do away with
our jails and reform schools. But the
kindergarten only takes children at
the age of 3 to 4. What happens to
them during those three or four long
eventful years? 1t is during those
very years that the seeds of intempeI'-
ance are sown by over and irregular
feed, which is the practice among our
common people. The mothers do not
know how to keep the little ones clean,