Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-03-15
Modern Girl Is Defended by
st. EIizabeth's Hospital
Psychologist.
DR.. RICHMOND OUTLINES
AGES OF DEVEL OPMENT
Function Of Home, She Says, Is to
Bring Up Child Until indie
pendence Is Attained.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

girl!
Nothing says DR.. Winifred Rich
mond, psychologist of st. Elizabeth's
Hospital. She is simply working out
In terms of new environment pat
tern as old as the human race.
When the girl in the first period of
adolescence. between IL and Is years,
changes suddenly from an angelic child
into saucy and defiant maiden who
keeps secrets from her parents, enters
into mysterious cliques with other girls
and gets cases on boys, the parents
have not much occasion to worry over
her "wildness," Dr. Richmond pointed
out. They simply have forgotten their
own experiences at the same age and
do not realize how times have changed.
Ill-advised efforts to curb her, to force
her to remain an angelic child. may
make matters much worse.
With both boys and girls, DR.. Rich
mond said, this is the period when
childhood is over and there is an over
whelming urge to break away from
the home and lead ones own life. This
has been recognized throughout history.
but the world in which the girl lives
has changed. The home has hardly
adjusted itself to the change In deal
ing with the early adolescent.
One Path in Recent Years.
This period, DR.. Richmond said. is
one of preparation for maturity when
the girl must learn to exercise her own
Judgment and she cannot do this II she
never is allowed to make judgments for
herself. But until comparatively recent
years there has been only one path for
the girl to follow--that toward mar
riage and the routine duties of the
woman in the household. In all earlier
civilizations, she said, the girl who was
not married before she was 20 was an
"old maid and Puritan writer's tell Of
Anticipated maidens of 25."
Under these conditions, she said. the
problem was much easier to solve.
There was only one thing to do and
neither the girl nor her parents wor-
ried about 1t. Among many OF the
savage peoples the situation Is formally
recognized and the early adolescent Is
formally indicted into womanhood with
ceremonies, after which she either Is
married or goes from her own home to
that of the parents of her intended
husband. With only one path cut out
for her. the girl did not feel the urge
to carve out an individual career for
herself. Until quite recently, DR.. Rich
mond pointed out, nobody thought of
educating girls for any other careers
than that of homemaking. The few
exceptions were quaint--as In the let
ters of st. Jerome. who insisted that
girl before marriage never should be
allowed to take a bath because 1t was
immodeSt.
Trying to Re Independent.
Probably 1t is because of this long
racial history" DIR. Richmond said,
that both girls and boys have such
struggle with their own homes IN early
adolescence. The girl is making an ef-
fort to be an independent human being.
When she becomes Saucy and defiant
1t is merely an expression OF what has
taken place for infinite ages. The girl
always has broken away from home AT
this period and should be allowed To 90
SO. The function OF the home Is 10
bring up the child until 1t can function
as an independent human being. Then
it must let them 60"
The struggle on both sides, DIR. Rich
mond said, Is often severe and full OF
heartaches, for the parents cannot I'M
derstand why the child for whom they
have made such sacrifices and had such
dreams now wants to repudiate them
The fact is, she said, the child doesn't
want to repudiate the parents, but
wants them to let it alone. Often the
girl or boy is feeling just as badly about
it as the father and mother.
In this period of overturning and in
stability in emotional life, said DR.. Rich
mond, the parents are too far away from
their own youth to understand and a
much better understanding can be OBJ
tanned from slightly older brothers and
sisters who have just passed through
the same troubles themselves.
Offers Serious Problems.
The next period of middle adolescence
DR.. Richmond said, runs from about Is
to IS. This also offers serious problems,
she pointed out, II the parents try to
exert their authority too much. The
girl has become somewhat adjusted and
started out on her independent course
i'll life. One of the greatest dangers
comes, she said, when parents feel that
they must plan the lives of their chill
dren. Some of their own ambitions
have been thwarted by circumstances
and they have dreamed of having the
son or daughter carry out these ambi-
tons. They try to live out their own
blasted lives in the lives of the younger
generation. This may result in con-
tinuouS struggle or, what Is even worse,
docile submission.
Some, she said, become so fixated In
the home that they don't realize that
they want to do anything except what
the parents want them to do. A study
of occupations shows that very rarely
has there been any rational choice of
life work, where the individual has
looked over the ground from the view
points Of pay. natural adaptation and
opportunity to do what one likes.
only the genius" DR.. Richmond
said docs what he or she wants to do
and is allowed to 60 ahead and develop
the real talents. Others choose from
things below the surface of conscious
ness. So 1t is very rarely that we md
person entirely happy in his work. Very
often this Is not due to any particular
dislike of the work itself, but to the
hold that the home has kept on us. We
are trying to please our father and
mother, not ourselves"
The urge of the adolescent girl, DR..
Richmond said, is to sever her depend
ence on the family, but not necessarily
her connection with it. She can live
very happily in the old home If given
reasonable leeway. In aggravated cases,
DR.. Richmond said, the problem may be
solved by actual physical separation
that is, putting the girl in foster home
where her nature will be better UNDER
stood. In other cases the best procedure
Is to explain to the parents that they
cannot expect to control her actions
very much any longer. II she never Is
allowed to make any mistakes she will
not learn much about the life which she
must encounter sooner or later.