Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1913-10-17
WHEN IS A CHILD
REALLY NAUGHTY?
Settle This Delicate Point Before
Administering a Punishment For
Juvenile Ofenses.

ausnIy out OF pure
ness. If he is in good health
he will be good tempered
nine times out of ten. Generally bad
temper means mistaken feeding. bad
management or disease. Occasionally
a child who mopes or has unexplained
fits of crying has an unequal balance
and should be watched very closely
and taken to a doctor If the trouble
continues.
In training a child it Is most impor-
tant to try to regard him and his do
ings as matters quite apart from your
self. Do not. for instance, think che
has given me a great deal of trouble.
and I'll punish him for It," but try to
consider whether the trouble vas aus
ed by a bad intention on the child's
part or whether it arose merely from
carelessness or III health.
Take a case in point. 1t is not wrong
for a little boy to dislike having his
face washed. Nearly all children hate
being washed. They have an Unborn
love of dirt. which. though very dis
agreeable. is by no means wrong. So
do not slap and shake a child when he
makes a fuss about being washed, pro
vided that the fuss ceases as Don as
he understands that he is really vexine
you by making 1t.
But If he says he has washed his face
when he has done nothing of the kind.
or If he refuses to wash it after being
clearly told to do so. or if he goes on
complaining about it after you have
made him understand that you wish
him to stop, then the case becomes very
different. He is n really naughty boy
and must be scolded or punished, not
because he is giving you trouble, but
because he is doing what he knows to
be wrong.
Many children have little ways
which though exceedingly tiresome are
quite innocent. A little girl may be
so clumsy figured, that she upsets ev-
erything she touches. But 1t is not fair
to laugh. at her when she upsets an
empty cup and then scold her for over
turning a full one on the clean table
cloth. You must either blame her for
both accidents or not blame her at all.
Another child is nervous In the dark
and wakes up screaming at night. If
you pet and comfort him on Tuesday.
when you have plenty of time to spare.
you must not blame him for screaming
again on Wednesday, when you have
visitors and do not want to be bothered
with him.
A tot may say something pert to her
father and win a laugh by 1t; then you
must not blame her for repeating the
selfsame thing to a prim friend or rel
alive, who Is scandalized. The fault.
If there was a fault, is no worse In one
case than in the other, though circum
stances have made 1t seem much more
apparent.
Children are very just little souls.
and they always know when they have
been unfairly treated. If a child once
gets into his head the notion that
mother either scolds or kisses him &C.
cording to her own state Of mind at
the moment he will never afterward
respect her authority. All that lie W"
do is to keep out of the way when she
seems "cross" or Drag and fb alter
nately about his doings In a way that
is almost bound to ruin his character.
But If he knows that mother is always
fair to him he will respect and love her
and try to please her. so that naughti-
ness and punishment become the ex-
ception rather than the rule In tho
house over which she rules so wisely
and firmly.
There would be fewer spoiled chill
dren in the world If those who had the
are of little ones understood better
where n~aughtiness begins and ends, 81
many children are habitually punished
or scolded for tri ks which though very
annoying are in themselves quite
harmless. while other children are al
lowed to commit really serious faults
without reproof just because those
faults do not bring any disagreeable
consequences upon their elders.
Don't try 10 break a child's will
If you Insist too much upon blind
obedience and continue to exact it
long after 1t she'd have been relaxed
the child has no oppcftunIly of acquii-
ing self ooE.rcl CT - - This is
why children accustomed to too great
severity and restIsiA, often turn
badly when they have to act for them
selves. Either they are Eroken spirit
ed or, having felt too heavy a hand
OF the reins, they rush into excuses.
Don't prevent a child from learning
by experience. If he will touch a hot
bar or a jug of boiling water when he
has been told not to. let him do IT.
once. He will not try a second time
OF course you must not carry this prin
ciple too far. so as to hurt him serious
In hut lot kIa,n- nnin- o-no.Aonao e.. hsan-