The Washington herald., 1916-03-06

There is an old story often told by
speakers and writers on the subject
OF child training that many of you
may have heard. 1t is that OF the
little fellow who. when forbidden to
go out to play with a neighbor child,
threw himself on the floor. kicking
and screaming. and then crying out:
Mother, mother. want to be paci
fed. Where is the peppermint candy?"
The story may not be true. but II
sounds very like things I have heard
between foolish mothers and spoiled
children. 1t is a good illustration of
the unwise methods pursued by many
mothers. of inducing their children to
do what they call behave them
selves" Can you imagine anything
more effective for developing the very
opposite of the self-control We all
know we should teach our children
while they are still young enough to
acquire a habit with ease? There isn't
child alive that would not cry and
scream for everything It wants II IL
was always rewarded with candy, or
something else that 1t liked very
much.
1t is the easiest thing in the world
to let a child get into the habit of
screaming for what it wants. Even
little babies only a few weeks old
soon find out they can be taken out of
their beds and handled about il they
just cry out! I was recently interested
in the experience of a young mother
who lives quite. near me. She had
little baby, her first one, and the baby
did suffer pitifully with collie. Being
taken up so often when ii was suffer-
ing, the little thing soon began to
want to be held in somebody's arms
every moment it was awake. By the
time 1t was six weeks old ii would
scream the minute it opened its eyes.
At first the mother would fly to it
every time, thinking it must be in pain.
In her anxiety at the child's constant
suffering she called a physician, but
after a little observation Of the child
the doctor concluded that much Of the
screaming was from habit and not from
collie. He told the mother that II she
valued her own peace and comfort she
had better break the baby's crying habit
at once. Although she wept bitter tears
at what she felt was her own heartless-
ness in letting her baby lie and cry
without going to take 1t up, she held
herself we'll in hand and when she had
assured herself that the child was en-
tirely comfortable and in no need of at
tention, she would leave 1t in its little
bed, no matter how hard 1t screamed.
l happened to run in to see her one
day during the training process and
found her pacing up and down the hall,
wringing her hands and wiping the tears
from her eyes. could hear the screams
Of her baby in the bedroom.
What is the natter" I asked. Can
do anything to help your
"Oh, am a bruteI she exclaimed. "A
stony-hearted brute! 1 ought never to
have been a mother. DR.. Gilbert made
me promise I would let the baby cry
1t out and I am dong 1t, but the poor
little thing has been screaming like that
for an hour. He will injure himself, 1
know. and I will be to blame Just
can't stand it to hear him."
He will not hurt himself by his cry
ing" I assured her, land you are doing
him the greatest kindness in the world
by teaching him now, before he is old
enough to be made to feel that perhaps
you do not love him because you discl-
pllne him, that he cannot get what he
wants by screaming for it,
Then I told her of a family I once knew
in my old home town. Father and mother
were both high strung and nervous them
selves and their children had come into
the world with irritable, quick tempers,
the very kind of children that most need
to be taught self-controL But they were
never taught II; from babyhood on they
always got what they wanted by scream
ing for It, and as they grew older the
habit grew on them and became fixed,
running the happiness of the three girls
for life All three of them were most
unhappy in their married lives because
Of their uncontrolled tempers.
One day when the oldest of the three
girls was about twelve years old her
mother sent for my mother to come to
her as quickly as she could. Without
waiting for hat or coat, mother ran across
the yard and into the house. There, on
the floor of the hall, lay that great big
girl, kicking and screaming, her hands
clenched and her face as red as fire.
Get her clothes off, quick!'' mother
exclaimed. "She is in a convulsion."
-'Oh, no, 1t isn't q CONFUSION" the
ether mother sadly replied. TT Is Q ut