Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-12-18
OUR CHILDREN
BY ANGELO PATRL

It is hard for children to hold their
minds on task for any length Of time
1t Is very trying for their active young
bodies to be obliged to sit quietly and
study for the long school session. A
period of work, of sitting still and lis
tening, must be followed by period of
| activity Some relief to the weary
nerves and muscles must be offered or
there will be trouble.
The younger children ought to be
given o short free recess in the fnOrfl-
ing session. If the conditions permit,
the children should run freely about
and shout as loud as they wish The
loud shout is the expression of the
lungs for expansion and fresh air. of
the strained muscles and aching nerves
for change of posture relief from pres
sure. 1t is not wise to ask a class of
little children to play quietly, to walk
on tiptoe, to have game of tag with
out making a sound. Noise goes with
healthy play. Forbid the joyful shout
and you kill the play.
You will notice that when the chill
dren do their home work they concen-
trate on a task and work steadily in
silence for a time. Once the hard ex-
ample is done or the paragraph writ
ten, there Is joyful shout of some
sort. The child viii stretch and yawn,
move about, tell story about some
thing that happened that day, laugh
and chat until either his sense Of duty
calls him back to work or somebody re-
minds him of 1t. That little recess is
necessary. Deprive him of those few
minutes complete relaxation, and you
deprive him of the power necessary for
the remainder Of the job.
Often d child pFaeticing music les
son will toll faithfully on a difficult
ornf
break into frills and runs and rounde-
lays, some sort of joyful noise. Take
that as part of the scheme. IF the
child, after such break gets down to
the work again console yourself that
all Is well. Should be insist upon
drumming and ffnpfOvising without any
show Of interest in the task at hand
he is plainly avoiding the unpleasant
drudgery. Remind him to go ahead
with the lesson. Work must precede
any shout of relief, any recreational
exercise.
Some children grow so tense about a
lesson that they forget to stop. On
and on, lesson after lesson, they work
until bedtime without pause That is
not good. The child viii be too weary
to sleep well, and that means that he
starts to school the next day with d
tired body and r1uddled mind. Watch
such a child, ana when you see he has
reached good stopping place speak to
him, call his attention away for min
ute, give him lemon drop, If he likes
them, or an apple, a cookie, some little
pleasant idterlude between tasks.
The other sort Of child works a few
minutes, stops to sharpen q pencil, to
hunt for the right kind Of paper, to
find q book he suddenly discovers he
needs, to ask If he can 90 to the en-
tertainment next month, TO announce
that his shoes need nehding; to berate
his little sister for shaking the table.
That child is lodging work and needs
to be sent to q quiet room and held to
his JOB
An children need relief from work,
and this relief is usually expressed in
some form Of joyous shout Don't stint
him, but try to Sc that honest work
necesSitates that sfl6ut. 1t is always a
healthy sign Lazy and idle children
seldom indulge in it.
copyright. 1930)