The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1912-05-09
HOME CIRCLE COLUMN.
A BOY AND HIS WORK.

though cradles are quite out of fashion
now, SO he's not likely to be in one
but anyway, when he is in the modern
substitute for a cradle, the mother has
fond dreams of his some day being in
the white house. President2 OF course:
nothing less will do. And when the
boy grows up and shows no disposition
to rise above the job he has in the
corner grocery store, she is sometimes
bitterly disappointed. Or, perhaps. it
is the father who has ambitions for the
son which he firmly insists the son
shall realize. And often, if his am
billions are not positive in character,
they are negative. He may not insist
upon the boy doing certain things.
But he does insist that he shall not do
certain other things.
How much of the choice as to what a
boy shall do shall rest with the parents?
Shall they choose altogether, shall
they choose partly, or shall they have
nothing whatever to do with it?
A certain mother is worrying her
son and herself sick in this matter. She
wants the boy to be a lawyer. Evil
IDENTIFY she has the white house vision.
But the boy, now 90 really boy no
longer in one sense, has been offered
fine position by an uncle in his butter
and egg business-a good salary, a
partnership in a year, with the possib-
ility, for the uncle is unmarried, of the
nephew's ultimately getting the bust
ness. The boy is a practical sort of
fellow, and he wants to take his uncle's
offer. But his mother scorns it, "Her
son sell butter and eggs!" Perish the
thought. And the boy, who thinks
lot of his mother, yet has sense enough
to have keen business eye to the
future, is distracted He is in the
west now recovering from a nervous
breakdown brought on by the family
dissension.
Another boy, tall, blue-eyed, looking
as II he came of the race of the Vik-
ngs, longs for the sea. His father
will hear none of it. He has him
chained, so to speak, to an office chair.
And the boy is eating his heart out
On the other hand, there are parents,
who, so their boys get positions or
Jobs as the case may be, give no
further thought to the matter. All
they are anxious for is that their boys
earn living. How they earn it does
not concern them.
None of these, it would seem, is
the wise or just course. 1t is hardly
right to thrust a profession or an oc-
cupation upon boy, as one thrusts
him into long trousers, On the other
hand, the boys welfare is not being
considered as it should be, when no
thought is given by the parents as to
the life work he shall do
No one is thoroughly happy or doing
his best work, if he is not doing the
work he wants to do, or for which he
has some special talent. 1t should be
the parents duty to discover what this
talent is and to develop it all possible.
From childhood up, he should be
watched, and that which he shows
special ability or preference for
should be encouraged. The parent
should not let his own wishes in the
matter interfere. He should think of
the boy, not of himself.
If the boy shows no decided prefer
ence, then as he grows older, he should
be led to think about the matter. Ju-
dfcious questioning and discussion may
arouse an interest. And it is so i'm
portant that boy find his true work
that no effort should be spared to help
him to do so. Many boy drifts from
one Job" to another, and finally be-
comes ne'er-do-well, simply because
he has never found his right work.
Did he once strike this, he would be-
come useful and happy.
The right of choice is surely the
boys, He is the one who must do the |
work, who must live his life in his
business. Therefore it should be one
to his taste But there should be on
the part of the parents, wise super
vision and counsel and training, so
that he shall choose wisely They
all should work together. The boy
should not be left entirely to his own
devices. But he right of final decision
should be his.-EX.