The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1924-10-03
Suffering And
Tmlidity In
Children


TTOW many people can revive the
memories Of those days Of long
= aago when they were o. acutely
vulnerable that they wished the hocr
would open and swallow them up, all
beca use they; were about to recite
little poem before an audience Of strang
ers?
Nearly every one has gone through
! such period, although most OF US
have forgotten about II. We have
forgotten it because we haven't wanted
to remember it. Parents must femem-
Der that It Is only the exceptional child,
or one who is exceptionally we'll
trained, who happily avoids this mis-
cry.
However. on tracing the fear to ne
cause. we find that stage-fright 10 due
nrincipally to inexperience. But the
timid child is the one In whom TINS
fear Of people 10 exaggerated ne Is
likely to be physically frail, II boy,
or somewhat physically unattractiye
child, if girl. .a
The boy who is afraid OF the otner
little boys, and the girl who 10 not
petted so much as the other little girls,
ali. that is tragedy indeed For they
come gradually to believe that they are
of not quite SO muRh Importance IN the
general scheme of znings as other boys
md girls are an& the foundation for
the .inferiority cord plex Is laid.
This leads to acute discomfort, and
in the effort to reduce this uncom-
Portable feeling many devices are re-
sorted to. Among other things, It may
lead to the wish to avoid the presence
Of other youngsters, and to cause the
child to become almost seclusive. W
il may 20 further and cause the child
To dwell in world of his own imagin-.
ins-and we now know that this Is
not at all good habit to form.
Physical frailty, or appropriately,
then the feeling Of inferiority, then Sc.
clusiyeness and living in an unreal
world this sort Of thing, carried on
into adult life, when the conflict be-
tween reality and the world of phan-
tasy becomes acutfs leads directly 70
insanity.
This fear may also derange the
smooth and co-ordinated action OF the
speech muscles, as these are among the
most easily disturbed of all the motor
muscles under voluntary control; and
suffering may develop. After the child.
has hesitated few times he begins
to nay attention to his speech produc'
ton, and only succeeds in increasing
the intensity and the frequency of his
peculiar and embarrassing inability to
control his vocal cords, tongue and lips.
To make a long story short, a habit
of suffering is formed. 1t is one OF
the curious facts in psychology that
any complex motor habit or sequence
of actions, VIXEN held directly in the
focus Of attention, becames less easily
performed. The concert pianist dares
not think in detail of the technique OF
difficult passage while on the con-
cert stage; NOR can the child scruti-
nize his word formation closely when
he has ..stage-fright" without similar
difficulty of performance.
The cause of suffering. then, is a
form of fear, based on the child's re-
actions toward other people. Knowing
that, we are on the. way to finding the
cure. II is just what you might ex-
pect, knowing its origin. The, child
must be developed SO as to make him
! feel that he is valuable member OF
the world in which he is part,
lW Now this is really more difficult
4 than il sounds because, unless the
[ child is made to develop qualities which
: win really obtain for it the respect
or admiration that it Graves from ats
equals, the cure will not be permanent.
But, granted that the parent has
the patience, intelligence and persis-
tence to SO train the child that its
unpopular qualities will be overshad.
owed by its popular ones, one or two
other means of getting rid of stutter-
ing can be used. First, have the
youngster simplify his vocabulary. a
stutterer, you know, If left to his own
devices, win tend to use all the many
syllabled words in the dictionary. And
next, have him speak slowly.
Another good practice is for him to
read aloud before an audience on ev-
cry practicable occasion until he be-
comes gradually accustomed to how it
feels to stand unafraid before people.
And for a time he may be encouraged
to memorize what he desires to say. But
the greatest thing for him to overcome
Is himself; he must conscientiOusly try
to make Of himself a bundle of likable
traits. 80
II people like you, you know, they
show it; and when they show it you
sec that, yes, there is no mistake
about it, they do like you, and you
4lA0 LuEMl UCtJCIt bSIAuoS NACJ nav
son you are having good time and
soon you are having a god time and
& are quite at ease. And the suffering
has, Of course, disappeared.
Now there are any number of cures
for suffering which will help the suf-
ferer temporarily; but until the boy
or girl ceases to cause other people to
react with dislike, or avoidance, or
irritation, just so long will the conse-
quent feeling Of embarrassment and in
feriority remain. And the only per-
manent cure is that outlined above |;
namely, to slowly but surely train the
child to be such a worthwhile and low
able child that he will think well Of
himself and others win act well toward
him. j. u.s.
That this Is perfectly possible is
fortunately true, for most children who
stutter are above the average in men
tai ability; the very fact that they are
sensitive to others reactions is proof
that they are acutely observant. They
are eager to. learn, and often not only
overcome their, handicap. but develop
into highly successful adults.