Western Carolina Democrat and French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1913-1915, 1915-09-23
SUGGESTIONS FOR MOTHERS
Correcting the Faults of Children
The Earlier This is Done, the
Easier 1t Us.

My little boy is antruthful O..
"My little girl Is disoDedient, /"
"My children get themselves SO
dirty" and ''What can be done to
remedy matters 20 Such are the
complaints and questions that
come to me over and over again.
1t goes without saying that / can,
not answer except by giving expe-
riences of persons who have dealt
with similar problems, or just
speak in a general way. The
mode of correction has much to do
with it, as has also the age and
disposition of the child, and the
self-control of the parent.
| am always reminded of an in
cident | once heard about
screaming, beligerent child get
ting into a crowded street car, and
for the next Is minutes thereafter
every passenger nthe car wed
with every one in telling what h.
or she would do If the child be
longed to him or her-at least, ali
but one, "a sweet-faced, gray-hair-
ed lady, to whom the man sitting
next to her said: If that child
were mine I'd make it mind, if |
had to kill it, wouldn't you?' 81
don't know" said the quiet we
man. ''Well, l know. But then
maybe you don't know. anything
about children, said the man.
"Oh yes'', said the gentle old
lady, 81 brought up thirteen,
That's why don't know what l
should do
There are, however certain
things any child should be taught
even before it is old enough to go
to school. One is respect for the
property of others When the
child has once learned that every
thing he sees is not his by divine
right, then it will be easy to keep
him from being a nuisance In q
neighbours house; he will be quiet
with only such things as he ought
to have.
When a child starts to school he
should be taught to respect the
sehool-desks, etc. And it is only
by respecting the property of the
child, that we can teach him to.
respect that of other people. Only
the other day I heard the bitter
sobs of a child over the destrue-
ton of sand-castle the little fei-
low had built In the path. His
father, tramped ruthlessly through
it, though it would have required
but little effort to go around it.
A little girl had a flower catalog
full of gay colors. The mother of
the child tore out sheet to take
the place Of a match, and thought
1T very funny when the child
strenuously objected. Yet later in
the day, when the little child tore
a Leaf cont of her mothers Bible,
the mother whipped her for it. AS
the child is required to respect the
rights Of older people, so should
the rights Of the child be respected
Did you never hear, "Be quiet,
Willie; the lady is talking. Do
not interrupt hers But when a
pause came and Willie tried to de-
scribe how his puppy played with
the kitten, he was interrupted
without an ,tftexGnse me.' ~One
little girl said, "Mama, are they
going to Let me talk when I get ito
Heaven?7
Nor should "a child he punished
or judged without giving it the
right to explain. Sometimes they
have reasons of which we never
dream, as did the little boy who
seemed to enjoy his first day Of
school but absolutely refused to
go the second day, almost going
into commissions when the. attempt
was made to force him to go. The
mother turned him over to the
father for punishment, and he
learned that "a big, had man"
1.-THE janitor) had come into the
schoolroom with a Step-laddar,
looked around and said to- the
teacher, "We1l hang 'em all to-
morrow" The child had no
thought but that he was referring
to the children. What did he
know about the pictures they ex-
peeted to hang2
The habit of telling a child that
ne or she is bad, is enough to
BRING out the worst In any child