New-York tribune., 1912-02-03
WHY THEY F|B
Children Can't Distinguish Be-
tween Fact and Fiction,
AMAZED, MAMMAS HEAR
Then Rush Back to Young Hope
fuls Without Asking Ques-
tions of the Professor.

One hundred fond mammas received an
awful shock yesterday. when a mere ran
stood up and defined a baby as being
for whom the objective world is a means
TO self-reaization.'
Mercy! What does that mean?' whis-
pered a nice rosy little woman.
"Oh, Why-er-you know-it's just the
scientific definition" answered her neigh
bor, turning hastily back to the notebook
in which she was trying to conhne a few Of
the words of wisdom which fell from the
lecturers lips.
He was Professor Robert MacDougau, Of
New York University. who was analyzing
"Children's Falsehoods" from an extremely
psychological point of view for the enlght-
enment of the Federation for Child study.
which was meeting at the School Of
Mothercraft, No. 566 West End avenue.
Apart from this objectionable insult TO
darling tOodleums-the very idea Of calling
him even being" much less all the rest
Of 1.-THE lecture was rather com!orunG'
for the worried mammas. who came 10 find
out why darling Percival told hhs "hch ne
knew # was naughty. were made TO under
stand that ii was not PerciVals total oe-
pravity. but his incomplete adjustment TO
his environment. which made him incapable
Of Distinguishing between real and imGgi-
nary sensory impressions.
"1is foundations of belief and disbelief
have not been established yet Eaid the
man of science.
ITO his inexperienced mind there is no
psvchological opposition between the real
and the imaginary. The adult has this
power OF discrimins ton, because his imag-
nation has atrophied. If you tell child
there is a bear under the bed he knows no
reason why there should not he bear
there so he believes you, and next day
he is quite likely TO tell somebody else tn"
bear is there. OF course. as he grows older
experience OF the mattcr-of-fact world
gives him a fuller comprehension of the dii-
ference between truth and imagination.
Older children may be immensely i'm
pressed with magic tricks and sleisht-of-
hand performances which child OF two
and a half accepts with Indifference Why
shouldn't rabbits come out of hat? 1t
never occurs to him to doubt II.
I'VE must remember. too in dealing with
children's falsehoods that adults have just
the same weaknesses, in quality, not la
quantity. Hardly any one can give ali
entirely unbiased account of any fact. for
he is always Influenced unconsCiously b.
his environment.
He is swayed this way and that by
Imagination, emotion. expectation. The
child frightened into lying is exactly the
counterpart Of the witness on the stand
cross-examined by a clever lawyer. Emo
ton. usually fear, renders him incapable
of seeing facts as they are.
In dealing wit children u mi
sent facts we must be sure the little cui-
prit feels our sympathy, otherwise we be-
come aliens TO him, and it is a principle of
race history, which the child recapitulates.
that among friends truth may be told bL:
to aliens, that is enemies. any lie is JUS
tifiable.
Children often tell each other the truth
when they would not tell il to cider people.
Between parent and child there must be
no fear, either as that only makes the
problem more complicated
Lastly, the parent must remember the
number of different facts behind an appar-
ent lie To illustrate. little girl who had
been forbidden candy came home from
school one afternoon with candy In the
pocket OF her coat. She said she found 4
there though, Of course. # looked yery
much as if she had bought it at the cor
ner drug store,
She insisted she found il in her pocket
didn't know how il got there. Well, some
time afterward II was discovered that she
had been entirely truthful. a little bos
had been sent out Of the school room 10
put his candy in his coat pocket His
coat was hanging next to hers. and in his
haste he had quite unwittingly dropped the
candy in the little girls pocket
After the lecture the women departed IN
haste. not stopping to ask the learned pro
fessor any questions, though invited to do
so by Miss Mary l.. Read, director Of the
school