Evening star., 1932-12-17


- Nu and as good an an angel
IVY until the past few months.
l i Now it seems that can do
nothing with him. He de-
lights in breaking things. He pulls the
table cover off and laughs to hear the
crash. He is as destructive as plague.
I don't know what to do with him any
more I've tried everything spanking
him, putting him in bed, seating him
on chair, all to no good"
Did you give him something to do?
Something of his own to be busy with?
While child lies in his crib he gathers
scme impressions of people and things
about him. Those impressions are i'm
perfect He has not touched and
weighed and measured the things in
the house. When he finds his feet he
is off on a tour of inspection in this
perfectly new world 1t is very in
teresting place. The table has thick
ness, it stands up and hits you back
when you bump your head against it.
He didn't know that before. The chairs
can be pushed and they can stand on
their other parts as well as on their
legs. Also they make loud noise when
they go over. That is all new to him.
AS to their meaning to grown-up peo-
pie he is blissfully ignorant.
We can't have the place wrecked.
Furniture and rugs and the little odds
and ends that have beauty and mean
ing to their owners must be safeguard
ed from this raider. He really does
not mean to destroy. He does not know.
What he is trying to do is to find out
all about these new things. No, he has
not seen them all these two years. He
was getting ready to see them. 1t is
now when he touches and pushes and
pulls and bites into them that he is
but we can't afford to have him get
his education out of the furniture. We
provide other means and save the
house.
As soon as a child starts exploring
take him on your shoulder and let him
look, touch and learn what he can
take and what he must let alone. If
he has a few such excursions he will
not have to go about on his own and
his disastrous mistakes will be lessened.
Keep taking him about the house until
he understands what you mean. Then
keep supplying him with things that
teach and satisfy. His senses are alert
to find what they can gather and as it
is upon them he must depend for an
important share Of his working expert
ence we take care to supply them with
material. We take drawer or box
that the child can reach easily and
fill it with odds and ends that interest
and amuse him.
Put into it balls of varying material,
size and color and use; pieces of cloth,
varied in texture and color; blocks that
fit into each other, lids that can be
taken off and put on boxes; metal odds
and ends that give him the feeling of
weight and temperature in opposition
to those of the cloth; doll in some
attractive dress and that offers activ-
ity; toy animal. Keep sorting over
the material and adding and subtract
ing things as his use of them indicates.
Teach him to use his things for a
half hour every morning, by himself
AS he grows older and stronger length
en- the time he spends with his things
and make them more useful to him
If he is trained in this way he won't
bother the household furnishings so
much. And he will grow much faster
and with higher quality of intelli-
gence than if you just keep after him
all day saying. mo. Don't touch. Stop
that. Leave that alone"
Copyright, 1890