The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-09-04
YOUR CHILD
Namby-Pamby
Tales Taboo
BY OLIVE ROBERTS BARTON

What kind of stories do you tell
your children? Stories of good little
Dummies, wicked witches, pirates, or
maudlin tales of mistreated Or
phanS?
There was a time, not so long ago,
that psychologists preached the
doctrine Of amby-pambly-ism to
parents in regard to this business of
story telling. The story with the
thrill was taboo, particularly if it
contained the word wicked" or
dealt with witches, dwarfs, or told
of distorted visage and ill-inten-
toned mind. Now we have learned
differently.
Here I shall make one perma-
nent and irrevocable exception to
the following paragraphs, and then
go on with the story. No child un-
der four should be told an alarming
tale or en- unhappy one. He should
not even be told an exciting one,
especially at night.
After four, we shall see!
At about this time his magma
ton begins to run away with him.
He imagines that he is everything
under the sun from an airplane
to a turtle. His little dream world
is as real to him as his real world
and at this time he begins to feel
real hunger for stories.
Place for Evil Factors
He is very impressionable. He
absorbs little sermons and be-
comes thoughtful about the differ
ence between good and bad. How
can he learn about good overcom-
ing evil unless there is an occa-
sional evil factor in the stories he
hears. There must be an obstacle
to overcome. There is a world Of
meaning in the good fairy who
overcomes the wicked witch, or the
kind tailor who breaks the spell
of wicked dwarf by dividing his
last morsel of bread with a beggar.
How can Tom show his courage
unless there is terrible pirate to
fight? OF Jack give an example of
bravery without his giant?
Now there are stories such as
Hansel and Gretel, in which a
wicked witch holds Hansel in a cage
to fatten him for eating and ending
by Gretel pushing the old girl her.
self into the oven she had prepared.
These stories should be burned. Also
a story like "Rumpelstiltskin," the
dwarf who stole the baby out of the
poor queens bed, and "The Rose
Tree" depicting a flower-pot in
which young mans head had been
buried. All these and their ilk
should be cut out of mothers
repertoire. AS for Red Riding
Hood" all the discussion about it
has come to naught.
But in telling it, I shouldn't
make it silly by changing it. Why
tell it at all? Those big eyes and
ears and teeth, so incongruous in
Granny's cap, still make me SILVER.
Mixture Recommended
If a child is not too nervous, I
should mix the the story diet and
give him right stiff one OCCASION
ally. His imagination must be fed.
And if you sweep off" a pirate or
push giant over a precipice and
make ''the last of him" with no
revolving details, or demolish a
witch before she demolishes some
one else, with large fine sweep of
your story brush--why that's not
bad for a child to hear. Let him
have little ginger.
Each year the story diet can be
strengthened. A child loves to
hear the same story over and over
when he is little. Later he will
beg. Tell me another" And if you
can beg, borrow or steal stories, tell
him all he can hold. 1t is good for
him.
But I should not feed him pap.
If he is too nervous to hear real
stories, don't tell him any until
he is older.
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Mr.. and Mrs. A. j. Pore 29l7
Il -