The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1921-11-23

| WHERE Lie liliAS1iSSo - sss -
healthy. " .
IF he does, BY that time he'll
be established in all kinds OF
healthy habits. Won't they serve
as a protection 2"
Maybe. But / can't be sure.
III can't even be sure Of those
deeper habits that are associated
with his feeling and his think
ing. What I've read about psy-
choanalysis makes me see that
every human being has an un-
charted ocean in the depths Of
|his consciousness. When / try
/ to regulate those youngsters I
can't help wondering if / may not
be doing them harm. One re-
suit is that | find myself doing
less and less regulating.
~
"How about punishing?"
1--WE given it up almost Who'll
", to the horror Of Aunt Emily.
When she comes to stay with us
she gives me long, sad lectures
on the way I'm neglecting my
duty. She's so sincere and so
concerned about my good and
about the good of the children
that / try to seem meek. / know
there's no use in my explaining
to her what / really think. I'm
convinced that in the case of
those two children furnishing
does nothing but harm. It stirs
up bad feeling in them and it
makes them much worse than
they were before. Every now
and then when one of them does
something particularly naughty
Billy goes on the rampage and
then the havoc is simply fright
full"
"What havoc ?"
'.The effect on the atmosphere
Of our home, the example. When
Billy gets mad he becomes per-
feet devil. He teaches the chill
dren how to act like devils them
selves. He gives them lessons
in anger and in uncontrolled Ian
guage. He knows that moral
violence. of that kind is wrong.
When he calms down he's sorry.
But, as I've often explained to
him and as he acknowledges, in
those moods he simply carries on
traditions that have come down
to us from generation to genera
ton. Have you ever thought of
those traditions and Of the awful
mischief they can work ?"
Indeed ] have thought Of
them. In some families you can
trace them as plainly as you can
trace writing in indelible ink.
Moral violence is one of the hard
est forces in the world to stop for
the simple reason that it's so es-
tablished and it has so many
Qualifications"
Exactly. Billy is never so
moral, never so convinced that
he'slin the right, as when he's on
the rampage. AS I've often said
to him, he acts, like man who is
crazy with drink. Not that I
blame him, you know. He does
the best he can. And lately be
hasn't been yielding to those out
bursts at all. For the most part
we live in a fairly tranquil at
mosphere. And it's this atmos-
phere that | rely on to help me
bring up the children properly.
It's like sunshine to plants and
flowers. Why, | know children
that live in an atmosphere of re-.
sentiment and gloom a large part
of the time. The parents think
that the children create the at
mOSpnefe by being so lll-be-
haVed, but, in my opinion, if
there's any responsibility, the
parents are responsible. But on
this subject of responsibility I
find myself growing more and
more lenient. We're all cropping
in the dark. And when I'm
tempted to blame the parents
that make failures of the home
and failures with their children
| have to remind myself that
We're just beginning to work on
the problem" John d. Barry.
lie anyone has anv Doubt If thn