, 1924-06-11
SHALL L TAKE MY CHILD TO TOWN
(By Marion Beal)

Whether or not to take the young
child to town is a problem that con-
fronts the average mother, at some
time or other, and one which re-
quires a wise solution, if she is to
give the child the best care possible.
She has been told that these trips to
the city are injurious to the delicate
system of the young child.
and having given much thought to
his best interests. she hesitates to
take him anywhere.
To the mother who must take her
child or children, or else stay at
home, this is indeed a grave con-
s~ideration. l have often seen these
mothers, with two or three young
sters trailing petulantly and fret
fully in their wake. One look at the
little faces proved that it would
have been much better for these
children to have remained at home.
The mothers, too, showed plainly
the fatigue marks hat support his
conclusion.
Here the wisest solution is to ask
the father occasionally to give his
weekly half holiday to caring for
the children so that the mother may
shop, free from the burdens of keep
ing IN y on restless youngsters.
Perhaps Dad will demur, but most
men, not in a position to provide
an assistant for the wife and moth
er, will be glad to perform this duty
If the reason for it is made clear.
unwaunr it 4. t0 tIo rao+l1. -
can leave the children in charge of
a competent person., that l propose
to address this article. AS a matter
of curse she leaves the children at
home when she goes shopping. Yet
perhaps she is often perplexed as to
how to answer the repeated plead
ing of the youngsters to be allowed
to "go with mother"
A solution of this problem may be
great success. When my eldest boy
was a little over a year old, 1 al
lowed him a short trip; that was
the beginning. l had been attracted
BY a show window in a big store, a
window full of gaily colored bal
looms. tossed about by a fan, and
the next afternoon l took the year
old son to see this window. For
half an hour he stood and crowed
with delight, just watching the gaily
colored balls floating about. And for
a week he would clap his little
hands and call, BLOW"
OF course on this trip there was
no shopping to tire him; he was
merely allowed to watch the fun,
then taken directly home, and 1
found the small adventure did him
no harm. Naturally, it was not re-
peated often, but as he grew older
he was given opportunities to watch
other windows, never, however, to
the point of fatigue, nor was the
trip topped off by a lot of rich candy
and ice cream. although a simple
treat, such as a milk chocolate, was
sometimes allowed.
These trips, window education"
my friends call them, have proven
really instructive, for as a direct
result the children have learned
many interesting things. They have
seen wonderful displays of Jewels,
musical instruments, and goods from
many foreign countries. They know
just how silk, cotton and wooden
goods are made from seeing replicas
OF these processes. They know how
cigars are made and how a piano is
made. They have seen windows
that in their appeal to the childish
imagination have been a rue de-
light. Easter windows and Christ
mas windows have afforded them
pleasure that lasted for weeks.
More rarely, perhaps once in six
or eight weeks, they see a really
good motion picture, one that have
previously seen and found suitable.
of course thaY do NOT % IL an en-