Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1906-09-06
Mistake to Hur1or
a "Sensitiue" Child
The LaD Must Accompany LoUe- Yielding TOO Much to
Temperament Will Soon Be Matter for Regret
to Both the Parents and the Offspring

pears in the schoolroom to ask some
concession to Lucy's nerves, or Eva's
feelings, and although she is a very
charming women l dread her as | do
the east wind"
In cases without number a child
who has borne the label sensitive"
loses 1t completely when transplanted
to the atmosphere of boarding
school, or sent on a visit to grandpar-
ents in an old homestead where he IL
allowed to do as he pleases when out
OF doors, and is under proper restric-
tons within them. Love is the best
atmosphere, 1t is true, for sensitive
child, but law must accompany love
in the training of children.
Sensitive means responsive TO infiu.
ence and the word has to do with
quick feeling and swift receptiveness
on the part Of human being. All
things considered, a sensitive child or
sensitive woman or man belongs to
higher order than does q blunt, ire
sponsive and dull-natured person who
is difficult Of access and slow Of
brain. The finer the type the greater
will be the sensitiveness. The farther
we advance in civilization the more
rapid will be the march Of sensation
and the swifter the rush of emotion,
and yet this means only that the pro-
founder must be the need for disci-
piine. Discipline should not be
thought Of as harsh. II never need
be unkind. 1t implies training in do
ing the same thing over and over un-
til doing 1t perfectly has become auto
matte. 1t implies drill and self
restraint and thousand nameless
chances and opportunities for thinking
of others before thinking of ones self.
When the sensitive child has learned
to, be altruistic, to deny self that 9TH
ers may be happy, he or she has
reached level on the uplands of life
well worth attainment. The corona
tion of happy living at home is en-
bodied in the word harmony There
cannot be harmony where there is In.
justice. Every child Of Adam, young
and old, yearns for justice. We do
not ask that people shall treat us with
forebearance or pity or even generosi-
. ty. We ask that they shall be just.
The youngest member of the family
has rs much right to justice as the
Oldest Oversensitiveness IL I'M
checked is sure to make its possessor
both miserable ard despotic COM
bination that works like leaven Of
evil in the individual and in the home.
An April child all sudden smiles
and tears may be darling, but
Aprifs onward progress is to months
in which we may anticipate settled
weather. !
Beware Of yielding too much to tenn
permanent, In the present direction
toward individualism in education
there is just the danger that the indi-
vidual may be studied to the disad-
vantage of the whole. An eminent
doctor who had given much thought
'and study to the management Of
youth once said to me: After all. II
is q comfort that children scramble
up the hill very much as they always
have, notwithstanding our painstak.
ing, and perhaps the best thing that
ever befalls them is a little whole,
some neglect"
Children are fortunate when they
are introduced into world full of
cousins about their own age. When
several families of kinsfolk reside In
the same locality and there is a good
deal Of visiting, Of running to and
fro and Of informal fellowship, the
children are early made members of
sort of youthful republic Big
brothers and older sisters look ouk
for the juniors, and IL there is a child
with tendency TO morbidness or to
discomfort the healthy activity In the
environment soon exercises the haunt
ing demon.
| A merry circle of cousins Is a cause
for congratulation, and next to this,
| the best thing for any child, whether
sensitive or not, is to be thrown int
the companionship Of school filed
with the children of townspeopis
somewhere on the same plane, as 70
age and condition. When everything
has been said on the subject that can
be said there still remains this truth
that children educate each other far
more successfully than grown people
educate them.
Copyright. 1906, by Joseph b. Bowles.)