Milford chronicle., 1927-09-30
Home Education
BECAUSE 1 TELL YOU TO"
Ethel Peterson

He was about four, shOul Judge,
and had come downtown with his
mother on the street car. AS they
got off, he spied one of those ma
chimes that hold balls of gum, wrap
ped in black, red and yellow. You
deposit a cent, push a rod and-lo
and behold!-as if by magic a ball
of gum drops out into your hand.
Can't you see how fascinating it
might be to a child?
The little chap rushed toward it,
crying, Mama, please give me a pen
ny; l want some gum"
mol" returner Mother, walking
right along briskly.
PerfOrce her son had to follow,
but tearfully he persisted, "Mama,
can't 1 have just one?"
To which his mother replied brus-
quly, 81 said, MOI" and started
across the street, with the boy wall
ing Justify beside her.
Well, maybe Mother didn't have a
penny, or possibly she didn't ap-
prove of the gum habit for small
boys, or she might have been in a
great hurry to accomplish her shop
ping and get back again. But Just
think back to the days when Won
were child-what would such a
short brusque denial as, "I said
MOI" have done to your emotions? &?
Wouldn't you have felt injured and
rebelliOus? Even now, with an adult
consciousness, how do you react
when some one makes a short dog
matte statement, without proof. in
refutatiOn of your opinion? 1t doesn't
"set WELL" does it?
My mother invariably when I
pressed her as to an adequate rea-
son for her insistence on my doing
something did not want to do said,
Because l tell you to-" For her
that ended the matter, and many
scolding 1 received because 1 sulked
afterwards. But to my childish
mind it did not seem a sufficient
reason for having to do something
that l disliked. Now, 1 would apply
the word arbitrary" to such a state
ment, and though my vocabulary
did not then contain that word, my
thought was the same.
l noticed another arbitrary mother
on a street car the other day. She
ardered her little daughter, to come
and sit by her. The child was sit
ting quietly right across the aisle,
looking out of the window, and the
car had few people in it. The child
evidently enjoyed being alone-per-
haps playing that she was going
shopping by herself. Her brow
clouded, and she asked, Why, Moth
err" I too, wondered, and then I
heard, Because I tell you to-"
1t seemed to me, privately, the
only reason the mother could give
she was merely showing her author
ity in public. The little girl obeyed
reluctantly, all her pleasure gone.
Tears filled her brown eyes, and she
cried softly until her mother threat
ened to punish her when they got
home if she didn't "straighten up"
My sympathy was entirely with
the child. None of us like to be
ordered peremptorily to do things,
and the stronger our personalities,
the less we can endure it. Why not,
then, Unreasonable with the child
ren? Don't deprive them of innocent
pleasures for no real reason, and if
you have a reason that the child has
not appreciated, why not try to ex-
plain so that we will understand?
Children are becoming increasing
ly restive under and restaint, and
the more rebellion they store up in
their souls while they are little, the
sooner they will break away from
discipline in adolescent days. But
even the tiny ones are surprisingly
logical, and while they resent un-
fairness and arbitrariness, they ap-
preciate justice and fairness just as
much.