The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-10-16
FOR FEMININE READERS
SOME PRACTICAL POINTS ON THE
TRAINING OF YOUNG CHILDREN.
An Entertf..amcnt for a winters
Evening" lat to Give on n Birth
day-Pretty Things TO He Worn.

Character often guides us to very plain
methods of helping children, says a writer
IN the New York Evening Post. To do the
indoent and lethargic, work, something to
be done steadily and conclusiveIy to be fin
ished at an appointed time; to the restless,
half a day in bed, without means of amuse-
ment; to the careless, the obligation to
'pck up and put in order, or to be made to
sit at a side table; to the greedy and sell
fish, to be- obliged to give of their dainties
or their toys. To make the latter lesson
really an aid-that is, to uproot the evil
which causes 1.-THE sharing must not take
the form Of deprivation without a demon
stration; but let the giving and sharing be
personal to one who needs or suffers, and
let them learn the pleasure of benevolence.
To find that some one loves them because
they have been thoughtful and generous,
and to see the comfort and enjoyment they
impart will often eradicate the tendency
TO meanness, which is common weakness
in youngsters who crave good things.
knew little boy who was taken regularly
to a child's hospital to dispense fruit laid
aside each day from his own share, who
from being painfully greedy became eager
10 take all he received, so fully did he real
ize the joy he gave.
less. indeed, that faint semblance to the
stocks, the being forced to sit on one chair
for an hour two. That is a very sub
DUNG process where obstinacy is the
trouble A visit of discovery to childs
refuge. which mercifully served as the
opening key to the knowledge of much be-
fore unknown cruelty taught the writer the
severity of this form of idleness and still
ness on very young children. A so-caled
nurse" sat sewing in a room where TWEEN
~ children We're ranged on small chairs,
mOtionless, silent. and without interest of
any sort. Returning from a disheartening
survey of the large house, there was point
OF view through a sort of well, whence the
weary little faces could be scanned; it was
d more painful sight than if they had been
bruised and beaten. 1t took but two min
utes to run down long flight Of stairs and
rouse them up to circle round the room, and
but few hours to store the wretched
nursery with building blocks and toys.
TO strike should be a forgotten art; no
child should be governed by blows. Rarey
has shown us that even horse is better
animal by yielding his will to infiexible
authority than if he had been subdued by
beating, and trainers of beasts tell us
frankly that when annals have been
whipped into dociity they are always
treacherous and will take advantage when
they find the opportunity.
That a parent should attain such love as
to make obedience and endeavor the child'S
pleasure is to demonstrate that character
has been invariably noble and judgment al
ways just; it means that the child has
found that to be happy it must be good and
that to receive the guerdOn of parental APP
probation it must merit it. The faulty child
whose wrongdoing has been constantly
overlooked whose petulance or disobedience
or general bad behavior deprives ii of no
indulgence and who finds its welcome after
a tit of i'll temper as warm and affectionate
as if it had been tractable and gentle has
no standard by which to judge itself no
rule to measure by. To deprive our chill
dren of the aid God provides for the con-
troll of their passions is to be as cruel to
them as to starve abuse them.
Our own daily conduct stands to them as
the model of life's attainment, and our
neglect of their faults and indulgence of
their wrong tendencies is a cruelty Even
the fond effort to spare the elder children,
coming into their share of the family bur-
den and leaving the weight upon Shout
ders already dropping under long pressure
Is failure in loves work instead of a
into the world to bear their part in the
great struggle bravely and to bring peace
and light into the places they are to fill
Is a mission great enough to inspire the
nost ambitious nature; to send forth into
hfes battle those who have learned neither
self-respect, nor patience, nor endurance is
TO add to the worlds misery and darken
future homes. in which there can be no
hope of happiness.