The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1917-03-27
Tuesday, March 27,-----1917
.199-17 7
CHILDHOOD ADVANCED

How often has the thought come tt
mothers and fathers Of the growing
youth and girl, ooh, my child, she has
grown up so suddenly, have lost her :
This comes from the fact that the
parent suddenly becomes aware of the
almost immediate TRANSITIONAL ton from
childhood to youthhood, and the loving
lingering, the tender patting care Of the
mother towards the child is almost out
Of place when she realizes that her
"baby'' is almost grown.
The time always seems short to the
mother from baby hood to childhood,
aad shorter still to youthhood, when
she must give up much of her fondling
mothering, at which time she feels that
her child is lost to her.
Take the girl for instance, the moth
er's delight is to make her dainty
little baby doll, and nothing pleases
the neither more than to have her
friends speak Of her baby III the follow
ing terms; ooh, how pretty she is, =
or Chow sweet OR fyou dress her SO
beautifully Then as she grows to
schoolhood days comes the further
pleasure to the mother to make her lit
tie daughter look as well or better, than
her neighbor 5, and as time goes by the
mother fuses over her child, always
thinking Of her as ''the baby and so
wrapped up is she in her enjoyment in
aothering the little one that she does
aot realize that her girl is growing
70, except that frocks have to be leng-
thened, until the sad awakening comes,
and she finds that her girl, her baby
girl, has the boys already in mind.
So it is, too, with the mother and
her boy. She will ever look upon him
as her baby, though oftentimes in or
DER to draw attention to his preco
ciousness, she will laughingly remark
but this hardly ever refers to age,
until the great awakening comes, and
she feels she can never again fondle
him as she always had SO much pleas
IRE in doing, and then and there her
heart fails her, she goes to her room
sobbing that the baby has gone forev
err.
Is it that our children Of today are
maturing at an earlier age than former
generations, or is it that the rapid pro
gress Of the age has made these young
sters acquire habits and ways in ad-
vance Of their years7
It certainly seems, in looking back
ward, that the child Of fifteen today is
as forward as those Of eighteen and
nineteen in the past generation, and it
is doubtful whether this early progress
in assuming the youth s prerogatives,
while in childhood s years, is good for
the child itself.
So far as the mother is concerned
it will always be a regret. and dissa-
pointment, and, for the child, it may
not be altogether wise. There is no age
50 thoroughly free from care as the
school days Of the boy and girl, and
this should be fostered as long as pos
sible, for the distractions and anxieties
Of life come soon enough without ad-
vancing them into the childhood days.
It is then a serious and necessary
question for all mothers and fathers to
solve as to whether it is wise, and bene-
fetal to the child s future welfare, to
allow them to advance into the social
life Of the young man and young wo-
man while they are still in their early
teens.
Twenty years ago the boy Of fifteen,
ID the girl of same, or even older,
was not allowed to entertain com
except at long intervals, when,
:, they were entertained under
intendence Of grown up folks.
child free from such regula-
II the streets until ten CLOCK
sometimes later, unacco mpan-
y but children Of their same
The parents seem to think it
ght, but is it
n.eapsibilities of LIES problems
kh to US all, and there
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