The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1928-11-09

any per.On whom the children
fear, and you will b. right more
often than if you depend upon
Bradstreet or church member
ship roll.
We hear much complaint these days
about the younger generations lack
of respect for parental authority.
But what about the respect which par
ents owe their children?
For several years now, 1 have felt
that the admonition, Honor thy ia
ther and thy m0ther"-as it is usual
ly given, without the parallel admoni-
lions to parents-takes too much for
granted. 1t assumes, for instance,
that all fathers and mothers are wOr-
thy of being honored. Well, you and
l know that the most goddess, bestial,
vicious, criminal human creatures in
existence do bring children into this
world. How can such unfortunate
children honor such parents. and why
should they?
While we are on this subject, there
is another Scripture which somehow
seems to have escaped parental no
tice: "The children ought not to lay
up for the parents but the parents
for the children" Perhaps should
add that this was written by a child
less old bachelor.
But there are some things about
child training Of which we may be
fairly certain.
For instance, every child is differ
ent. Try as they may, with text
books, conventions, and laws, our edu-
Gators can never succeed in making
them all alike. You see, the boys and
girls simply can't help it. Their par
ents are all different, too
Somewhere today the Napoleon of
tomorrow is mobiliZing his army of
tin soldiers, or dragging his cannon
across the nursery floor. And the
time to capture these great war max
ers is very soon after they are born.
Somewhere tonight the Lincoln of
the morning lisps his understanding
of divinity. And the time to secure
the best legislation is when our law
makers are trying to ''shea how re
w'eels g. wound"
Blessed is that man or woman who
knows what to say to a child. 1t is
better to be big enough to talk to
children than little enough to preach
to srOwn-upS.
Advice is depressing. Demonstra-
ton is catching. But one can never
teach child by showing it what not
to do.
The doctors all agree that love is
good medicine. 1t is a wonderful
tonic and may be taken in many diff
ferent ways. A boy usually likes his
best with little ginger in it. If he
does not, be very careful of the case
Most important of all, / think, Is
self-respect. Self-respect is the an
Choir of character. What one knows
about ones self counts for much more
than personal mention in the columns
of the hometown paper. So long as
self-respect holds one may ride out
the widest storm, but once let that
anchor drag and shipwreck is certain
AS 1 have said before, this equality
stuff is dangerous. When you say to
your children, "You are no better
than anyone else" look out! The
growing youngsters will need "a lot
of the salt of common sense to save
themselves from such rot.
Help your boys and girls to think
straight. Teach them to accept as
perfectly natural the fact that they
are better than some of the boys and
girls they know about, just as you,
their parents, are better than the ia
theirs and mothers of those less for
tunate boys and girls. And then
why then, because they are better
than some other children, and because
Dad and Nom are better than some
other fathers and mothers, there are
some things that we simply do not
do. We do not do those things be-
cause we are not that kind of people.
Of course we could do those things
if we wanted to. But we don't want
to because if we did we would be, in
fact, no better than anyone else"
Oh, yes indeed, then you must beal
down hard on the personal response
bility which goes with being better
than some other people.
Exactly! This system will work
only when father and mother are, in
fact, better than some other fathers
and mothers. 1t will not work at all
when fat.er and mother merely as.
sumo that they are better than other
people. If you are not reasonably
certain of this factor in your problem
you must proceed with great caution.
However, if your team work
was somewhere near 100 per
cent before your first was born,
you may be reasonably certain
that you are a whole lot better
than most parents.
You may be sure. too, that, given
this starting chance, the other mem
bers of the growing family will do
their share, and that father and moth
err and sons and daughters will more
and more pull together as the years
go by.
With this sort of teamwork the
game is as good as won. Without it
well-games have been won by those
who ere forced to play a lone hand,
but the odds against such victory
are heavy.
GO 1928. by the Bell Syndicate. Incl
/