The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1933-11-15
TRYOUR
CHILDREN
By Olive Roberts Barton .


1t Is Friday, Bob gets up,
dresses, eats his breakfast, gathers
I'D his cap and books and goes on
to school. He isn't crazy about
school, but he accepts 1t very well
because he knows he has to go.
He sits in a row, marches in a
row, stands in a row and goes
through a blocked-out day with no
particular resentment.
After school he has two duties.
One is to take the dog for a walk
and the other to shovel the ashes
out of the furnace.
Then he is free for an hour be-
fore supper to do as he wishes.
He will play, of course, or per-
haps just loaf and do nothing. He
eats his supper, does his lessons,
NAV read a book for a while and
goes to bed, fairly content.
Thrown on His Own
Saturday is different. He wakes
I'D. What will he do to-day2 Play
football,go over an dget Chuck and
hunt for nuts, or go to a movie?
He Tolls about the house all morn
ing trying to make up his mind.
Maybe he'd rather drive over to
Aunt Anne's with his mother? OF
go down to Amby's and see Am
by's pigeons.
He can't decide. Then Andy
calls UP and that settles it. Bob is
relieved. He's all tired out trying to
reach q decision. But that night he
has six regrets. He didn't do half
the things he had planned.
Perhaps it isn't as bad as this,
for after all, children usually know
pretty much what they want. But
IL every day were Saturday, 1t
would be wearing process.
It Is very acceptable to children
to have their time and duties as
well as their play decided Tor
them, at least in a general way.
And it is acceptable to have their
line of conduct decided for them,
too. They get pretty weary of their
own freedom.
L believe people are always more
content when they have a certain
routine to put up with and when
life's program Is more or less fixed.
It takes off nerve strain. am sure
the former uch-talked Of young
man who had to go into his
fathers business after he gradu-
ated was luckier than the restless
one to-day who does not know ex-
actly what he wants to do or what
to prepare for.
The man, woman, or child with
no rules to live by and who must
depend entirely on his own deci-
sions is seldom happy We need
rule. We need routine. 1t is far
better recipe for happiness than to
be constantly at q loose end. 1t is
a relief to bow to the inevitable.
When Discipline Is Welcome
Children as a rule are dictated
to too much. To offset this, some
of the reformers are advocating
liberty with a capital "L." Even
some Of the new schools accent the
point of the child making all the
choice himself.
It is very wearing, very confus-
ing and I think out of line with
our needs. The old system with its
military precision and monotony
may have had its faults, but it was
a nerve-saver, too.
Children find relief in being told.
They get tired of everlastingly de-
Gliding SHOULD I do this or not do
that?" Faced every five minutes
with a new problem is as exhaust
ing to a child as it is to us.
Certainly they need freedom, but
freedom Is a driver and a tyrant.
It can ruin as well as strengthen
us. Freedom with a purpose is diff
ferent from the freedom that
means drifting. 1t Is real kindness
to a child to at least rough-sketch
his life for him. -