The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-07-13
TELLSDAlGHTER
 EVERYTHING HER MIND GAN GRASP
Mrs. Shore Believes In Absolute ;. Frankness
 With Children /

l. IGEeA My Daughter About Marriage! ,. That question is uppermost in the {, minds of hundreds of thousands of mothers who have daughters that are F going on ten or eleven and are ] just beginning to urn their interest [ from games and toys to real life and are asking pertinent questions which must be answered delicately yet frank ly. The youngsters may have been play 4 ing house and assigning to each other the parts of Papa and Mama, and sud- : denly the question of children comes up. How and why do they actually come ' into the world? What is the truth about the queer looking stork? { . Viola Brothers Shore, the well ll-known 2 author, has a little daughter just turned E ten, the questioning age. And since : Mrs. Shore is not only successful 1 author, but shows courage in tack ling of the explanation of marriage 1 to a little ten-year-old is exceedingly \ interesting. "There comes a time in every wom- ans life when she must haul out the old saga about the trees and the flow CTS, going on from there to the birdies and the little fishes, and ending up rather vaguely and lamely by drawing on analogy between human and animal life" said Mrs. Shore "I answered Wilma that way, but it was not enough for her. She wondered why only mar ried people had babies. I told her that it was one of the provisions nature made, so that the baby skould have a mother and father to take care of it. But how does nature know? she asked. "A few days later slie approached me again on the same Subject; she had talked the matter over with few Of her little playmates and they had come to the conclusion that when baby was expected by man and woman they went out and got married. And that explanation satisfied her, and she. is not puzzling her little head about it any more."
 Absolute Frankness
 Mrs. Shore believes in absolute frankness with children as far as is compatible with their age and mental development. That applies to all things, not only the delicate matters of sex. She considers confidence between the child and the mother a prime requisite for a perfect relationship.
 If you forbid the child to mention certain topics; if you refuse to explain and discuss certain things when your , Httie girl asks with natural, and only casual, curiosity; if you forbid her to look at certain books, you have accom-. plished anything but .intensifying the curiosity, giving it the morbid slant Ss>of forbidden and shameful knowledge acquired behind the mothers back, to be concealed but avidly pursued further when opportunity offers. Not only does this course almost invite the child to lie, to transgress, to use subterfuge, but it also gives it an entirely wrong i'm pression of vital things at an age when impressions gained will have the greatest influence on later life" g
 Do you mean to tell me that you let your ten-year-old daughter read anything she gets hold of?" asked Mrs. Shore in astonishment.
 T do," she replied. T have made 1t : a@rule, and hard as it was on me, 11-haye never dderis ted=fFona iit+s1 came upon Wilma once, when she was seven years old, curled up ina corner read ing Dreiserss The Hand of the Potter, than which there is nothing than whicher.' was aghast when I saw her, and my first impluse was to snatch the. book away from her. controlled, it and let her go ahead, but asked her, later: How did you like that book, and she said: Not much, Mother, dear. don't seem, to understand what. it is all about
 Passed From Mind
 ''Now, remembering my own. child hood, know that every child is an adapt at dissimula tion; but when the seed of thought is in the child's mind it comes out sooner or later in conversa- tion, unbeknownst to the youngster. For weeks l listened to Ter conversation anxiously, to fill some refernce to that terrible book, and found none. She had absolutely forgotten about it-her mind was not puzzled or curious as it would have been had forbidden her to- read it. ,-sJust the opposite happenede to me when I was child was brought up very strictly with my father carefull% supervising what I read. One daTef came to the table and said: Oh 1!have' an awful backathe,' pRouMGng it 'back-atsheo,' as we kidstwere fond of twisting words in those days. Father looked at me sternly and said :"T fort = bid you to read this vile book The result was that I went out and bought 3a volume of 'Boccaccio,' and read it avidly, behind my fathers back.
 zYDMy daughter has confidence in me. She knows that understand her; She reTards me as q friend of her own age Once when urged her to go to a show with one of her schoolmates, she said she'd prefer to go with -me, be- cause T. can talk to you-you're just like a kid of my age, mother dear.s,, I considered that one of the greatest com plirhents ever paid me. Now, when see her read book that is not suitable for a child of her age, say to her, You can read it if you want, but I don t. think you'll be interested or enjoy it.