The Mt. Sterling advocate., 1921-06-28

Nature commands the normal child
to he ceaselessly occupied during
waking life in using all the things at
his command to reproduce what he
sees going on around him. The child
who gallops off on his broomst.ck,
initiating his father on a horse, is
getting valuable experience of sim
pie sort in doing what he may need
to do later in life. In this simple
action he is using his senses to get
information, and then, most impor-
tant of all, he is making this infor-
nation his own by actually doing the
act. This is the only way he can
learn it. He cannot even perceive
accurately until he is under the nec-
essity Of reproducing the thing he is
perceiving, or adapting himself to it
in some way. Nature will not develop
any faculty unless there is need for
it. If the child could get all he
wants without becoming sharp in
sight, hearing, taste, touch and
smell, he never would acquire any
keenness through any of his senses.
The child who has a large sand
pile in which he may make pies,
build houses, and so on, has better
chance to develop his intelligence
than child who is not so favored.
As rule, the better the child's op-
portunities for imitation and the
wider the range Of his limitations, the
more rapid and normal progress he
will make in the development of his
mind.
Often parents think that doll play
is simply amusement; but it may be
the means Of developing intelligence
in high degree. The child Of four
or five who cares for her doll, watch
full Of its needs, nursing it when in
trouble, dressing it, putting it to bed,
instructing it, is getting forward
faster than she ever could without
such experience. These activities all
require keen observation and intelli-
gence in execution. Doll play brings
in most of the factors of intellect
which are required in caring for a
little child in real life. OF course,
the more the child has to do for her
doll the better it will be for her in
tellectual development. A doll which
the child does nothing but look at,
rock to sleep or carry in her arms,
is Of slight value, compared with one
that must be dressed and undressed,
have her hair comhed, her nails pol
ished, for whom clothes must be
made, and so on.
As the child's range of observa-
ton increases, doll play ought to be-
come more varied and educative. A
child who is given a suggestion now
and again will readily develop high |
degree of imaginative feeling with re-
gard to dolls, all of which may be
vastly important for intellectual de-
velopment. Suppose a child has five
or six dolls of different sizes and
appearance. Each one may be made
to personify a member Of the fam
lily or some person in the neighbor-
hood; or a character in history or
in some story which she has heard.
Then these characters may be made
to act their parts in little drama.
There is no experience in human life |
which is more absorbing than these
play dramatics in early childhood;
and it must be impressed that in
this play the child is simply taking
mental possession Of the world
around him. If he did not dramatize
life, he would not learn it.
An observing parent must have
noted his child's passion to play a
part. Every living thing he sees
furnishes a model for personifica-
ton. Now he is a cat, now a dog,
now one Of his playmates, and so on
ad libitum. Do you see what this
means for development? Suppose,
for instance, that a child five years
of age visits a blacksmith. When
he comes home you may find him
shoeing horses all the time. Any
thing will answer for the horse. All
the child is concerned with is the
shoeing. In performing this activity
he is really learning about it.
What an advantage it would be to
your child if he could utilize the OBJ
jects in his home so far as possible
to carry on his limitations. Perhaps
you have looked upon these play ac-
tivities only as an annoyance, and