Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1911-01-26
GRATIOT COUNTY TEACHERS INSTITUTE A SUCCESS
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Graiot County The Home Of Michigan Institute Work

him. as soon as he yells some one will
walk the floor with him, and as soon
as he holds his breath that he can
domineer the whole family, he has de-
veloped all the conditions necessary
to make a desperate of him. In other
words, as soon as he knows that by a
few tricks he can rule, he has started
the qualities which will make a tyrant
of him. From his cradle up is the old
term, but the baby of the modern
mother who knows has no cradle to
be rocked to sleep in. When it is
time for baby TO go to sleep he is
placed on the bed and left to go to
sleep. There are thousands of modern
homes in the country where baby has
not learned that by holding his breath
he can get anything on earth he wants.
And these boys are safe until some
visit is made to a doting grandmother
or a maiden aunt, and then how easy
it is to undo all that has been accom-
plished!
The second period is period Of
limited freedom, but the child does not
know that his freedom is limited.
Some one has an eye or an ear on
every baby of three or four years OF
age in the country If you do not be-
lieve this, DR.. Winship suggested that
YOU 90 to call on some friend with a
little child, fascinate her with conver-
sation, and as long as baby in the ad-
Joining room cooed with his play
things all was well; but let there be a
sudden silence and conversation is for
gotten and mother hustles out to find
out what is the matter with Willie.
| The responsibility, during this period,
| is always on some one else, and right
ly so. Baby finds big brothers gloves
and waving them through the kitchen
drops them in pail of molasses and
triumphantly calls mother to see what
he has done. Does the modern moth
er spank the baby? No, she chides
the big brother for leaving the gloves
where baby can get them. Had she
spanked the little one, the next time
he would have hid the gloves under
his blouse, sneaked into the pantry,
dropped the gloves in the molasses
and put the cover on the pail. He
would have slyly denied his guilt The
difference in the two methods is evil
| dent.
But in the third period of life, ac-
cording TO DR.. Winship, the boy
should be given specific directions
and direct responsibilities. For in
stance, he should be told that at all
times when the weather is pleasant
| he can play in the back yard; that
when he wants to play in the front
yard he must ask mother, and that he
must never cross the road. There has
been no greater discovery in child
training than that it is just as bad for
the child to ask everything as to do
things which are wrong. There ought
to be certain things which the boy can
do without asking, and certain things
he can do only after asking. But sup
pose the child disobeys? Should you
| spank him? The great educator thinks
it may do no harm; it may soothe your
own feelings little to do so, but it
certainly won't help the child.
There are three kinds OF things in
this world. Those which are abso-
| lutely safe, those which are absolute
| ly and without exception dangerous,
and those things which may be either.
1t is this large middle zone that we
must train our boys to meet, this zone
where judgment must be used. That
boys are bad is not so much their
fault as that of their training. An
! illustration of two boys. one of whom
would not beg his mother to buy him
candy, because he knew that she
would not, and the one who teased
until he got it, showed simply the diff
ference in mothers, not in boys. The
period of the boys life when he first
enters the primary department causes
the whole current OF his life TO
change, when he finds it does no good
to cry or hold his breath.
The second grand division of the
boys life, the period from the sixth
to thirteenth years, has two phases,
that of the first two or three years,
and that later. Dr. Winship advised
teachers not to take their young stu
dents too seriously, as the chief de-
sire usually of the youngsters was
| simply TO please their teacher. As an
| illustration he told of visit to kim
dergarten, where the teacher enthu-
siastically asked the children who
were glad to see her nice, kind gen
tleman friends to raise their hands.
This they all did promptly A friend
in the party thought that this was rot
and finally persuaded the teacher to
ask all the children who would like
to see her nice, kind gentleman friends
hanged to raise their hands, and joy
fully the whole class did so. All Of
which simply went to show that their
reside to please was their prevailing