The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-09-14

i
who scolded and frightened ne; il was
as real 10 me as any experience OF later
life" A stiH rarer fancy is the mag
/ irary playmate; but several accounts OF
these have appeared in psychological jour
/ nails, and I have known of FIVE children
who had them One little girl has four
imaginary -roJners and sisters, Of whom
she gives a vivid account Another boy
had a chum called Tent and would
startle his father and mother by say
ing. .'Oh there's Tent coming in the gate. :"
when they could see no one A small
neice of mine constantly talks TO her
! friend, little Awee@ when. as her mother
has discovered by watching. there is not
even a doll in the room TO supply q lay
| figure en- which 10 hang the personality.
She viii get angry, stamp her foot, and
say: You did. Awnee-you know you
did"
| Another curious form of ina gination is
the making of myths A pupil OF mine. OF
/ Quaker family. and with no imaginative
stimulus supplied. believed that she had
| been bird whose wings were torn of by
an angry parent, which made her fall
down 10 this world Another lady tells
me she and her sisters used 10 pray to
an imaginary deity the Grand Rogaloga-
! II is hard to draw the line among these
various imaginings as TO which are I'M
wholesome. I should dread rather the
quantity. than the habit the amount OF
time spent in the world OF fancy. il It
were out OF proportion TO the share in
real life; but there is no doubt that dan
gers do come from over-indulged mag
/ ination. Some children delight so much
in it that they spend hours in lonely wan
derings INDUCING their fancies: others
will form the habit OF lying on the floor
or the grass. often pulling OF rubbing
their own hair or ears. or any soft, pill
able object. and day-dreaming; the dan
ger here is that they are forming bad
motor or sensuous habits, and habits Of
mental and physical laziness. for to drift
with fancy is no mental exertion.
Sometimes children learn 10 lie awake
for hours at night. following out fancies;
or they grow too dreamy to care for com
panionship and lose the power OF adap-
tation TO others, and the good OF having
their corners rubbed off, by other chill
dren. Later. as they grow to be boys
and girls. they are apt 10 replace the
improbable and grotesQue fancies Of child
hold by day-dreams OF future pleasure
and power, all centering on themselves;
sometimes leading into impure thoughts
and habits or with the boys to following
up yellow backed novels, in attempts 10
be heroes Of crime.
These real dangers are what oblige US TO
think how we should act with every i'm
sginative children. 1t is Of no use to deny
CT pooh-pooh the facts. They are perfectly
true. as know by long observation and
personal experience. There are three ways
in which we can deal with any childish
rover or instinct We may do our best 10
check and repress IT, try to choke It of
entirely; then we lose its power and per-
haps damage the nature in other ways.
We have all seen people depressing chill
dren's physical activity in this way. We
may let it go fits own way, waste and run
not unfortunately. we have all seen ex-
amples OF physical activity treated this
way. We may also find wholesome en-
ployment for 1t under guidance and with
in right limits. but his last way is much
the most troublesome for the time, as It
requires thought. patience and persever-
ance.
All the cases Of excessive dreaminess
and Of imaginary playmates which have
seen have been of only children, or lone
" children. living a quiet life or with
adults for their chief companions One
solitary child 1 know of had an imaginary
companion named Dora. She would lay
aside part OF her candy and treasures for
Dora, insist on having vacant chair be
side her and talk to Dora through her
meal-times as well as when alone. The
fancy seemed TO grow on her. and her
mother who though it uncanny, resolved
To try the "choking-on plan in her own
way. Arranging with The older sister what
TO do and say. she threw down some
thing with crash in the next room to
where the dhild was and then came in
exclaiming. oh, Dora's dead. The ladder
fell on her and killed her. Aside from
the cruelty Of this plan and the danger
or shock TO the child. it was extremely
foolish. as il made a much deeper i'm
preston than the matteT-of-fact attitude
towards Dora" would have done OF
course. the remedy indicated here was
plenty Of actual companionship with real
children. This might be called the sub
sttution plan. and it is a very practical
ore.
Active. interesting employment IS an
other wholesome substitution remedy for
dreaming. but conpanionship Is the ne
cessity. COR We can dream over an occu-
patton. but we must answer the demands
or others on Us. Sending a very dreamy
child 10 a good kindergarten or school
is often a remedy. Regular habits con
slant employment. new ideas and exper-
fences break up tae irregular habits which
foster dreaming at homo.
Another cause for over-imaginativeness
Is often an overdose OF stories and slim
ulating books People are proud OF 9 child
who learns 70 read easily and likes read
ing. or 10 be read TO. they forget that II
the child gets ideas much faster than he
can test them b. practical action OF ex-
perieace. Il gives him only an imaginary
world which draws OF his attention from
real life This does not mean denying
books and stories % an Imaginative child
Because q person tends 70 over-eat he IS
rot u be denied all food; Imagination IS
too valuable d power to Be starved What
such a child needs IS wholesome and well
chosen literature. with a good deal q
hunor Il Il q prevent morbid tastes
The best imaginative works a. SCOTS
Steve1son's. and Havthorne-s with plenty
e. demand made CT the child FOR active
results: writing stories accounts q what
he has read % learned at school. good
ian Eglage exercises. rotations or making