The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1918-02-28

| From about the age of 8, and ex-
tending indefinitely through childhood
years. there is no more valuable aid
| for the mother who desires to pro-
mote the well-being of her children
than walks and talks. 1t is usually
most difficult for the housekeeping
mother to find sufficient leisure-or
rather, uninterrupted leisure-to con-
centrate on work or play with her chill
dren. We are all only too familiar
! with the Interruptions Of the butcher,
the baker, the telephone. the friendly
neighbor. which break in repeatedly
until one gives up in despair. But
when you leave your home and its
distractions behind you. you begin to
realize that you have found a way in
which you can say with Froebel,
| Come, let us live with our children"
| These walks and talks can be use
full both to the city mother and the
country mother. though it will be
easily seen that the country mother
| has the advantage in this respect. The
city mother will have to substitute,
| for the suggestions below, the city
| parks, the river or lake front, visits
to the large factories, museums and
historic points Of interest. You can
make the walks as long or as short
as your leisure permits; you can plan
| them for every day or every other
| day, morning or afternoon; and after
| months trial you will begin to
realize their value for yourself as
much as for the children. The blue
! sky and the great outdoors will take
| you away from the pettiness of the
| thousand and one trif1es that contin-
ually intrude themselves upon your
attention while you remain within four
walls. and they will be equally uplift-
| ig in taking the little ones away
especially is this true in small towns
| from the petty small-talk that eman-
ates from the porches and the front
, stoops and passes along the sidewalks
| from house to house and from child to
! child.
1t is we'll for you to decide upon
your destination before you call the
children with Lets go to the pond
| today! "-or This is great day for
the woods!" A playmate or two taken
along occasionally land frequently if
you have but one child> will lend ad-
ditional zest to the walks and will en-
large your opportunities of getting
better acquainted, not only with the
playmates, but with your own chill
dren in. relation to their playmates.
In the case of very young children,
places very near home will serve IS
we'll as the more distant goals which
are usually more attractive to the old
er children. The pond or the stream
under the bridge. or the waterfront,
the beach. or the rocky boulders that
can be scaled. or the woods-seek
them out in your vicinity. Try every
road and see where it leads to. The
adjoining town. if it be within two or
three miles. makes a splendid objec-
tive point with older children, and a
trolley ride will bring you back should
time or fatigue make it necessary.
Try to forget all your grown-up
dignity on these walks ESPECIALLY If
it be country road) and have as
much fun and laughter as the children
are ready for. Wear only stout shoes
and "roughing' clothes. Sometime s
permit the children to take skates. orI
a bicycle. or velocipede, a wagon or
jaunting cart. or a sled. a hoop. or
horse reins. All these will provide
additional attractions when the chill
dren seem loath to leave their street
play.
These walks will develop your chill
dren physically fully as much as any
systematic exercises. and the variety
of stunts" that will be initiated along
the road will astound you. In some
of them you may join; others will
teach you to have control of your
nerves. while the children develop !
strength and independence thereby. |
So far a S the physical activities are
concerned. you need suggest very lit |
tie; the children will initiate as much !
as there are time and energy for. |
There will be walking forward and !
backward. sometimes with eyes shut. i
sometimes on stone walls and in j
bitches; there will be running. skip |
ping, hopping. jumping from different |
heights. whistling and singing, games |
Of follow MASTER" racing, stone-throw-
ing and stick-throwing into ponds and
trees. and tree-climbi bling.
That the walks and talks are a !
great mental stimulus is readily ap-
parent, when one reflects for a mo- |
ment upon the opportunities for ask |,
ing and answering questions that sell |
dom arise in the schoolroom: the OPP |
portunities to observe public work ;
that is going on away from ones |
immediate neighborhood: the road
building the digging of trenches and |
laying vi LidiHs' the settlHS anu ldh
ing down Of telegraph poles, the op-
GRAFTON Of the switch towers near the
railroad bridge, the regulation of traf-
fic. the construction of buildings !
There is a deepening of sense impress
sions: there is training in the correct
use of good English in conversations
and storytelling by the way-side;
there is reading and dramatzation in
the woods and in the shady hooks
and on the rocky heights that aid so