The Waterbury Democrat., 1934-03-28

Is and what we think it Is ls the
 subject of tO days article by
 Olive Roberts Barton. It Is an-
 other instalinent iD her series on
 modern Child training.
 In last week articles were ex- plained the general meanings of big names with which the air is vibrating to-day
 Now we can pretty well forget them. At the best they are psycho- logical and of no great practical use in everyday training. The ob- ject' was to show the parent that there is more 'to tEe mind than merely something to think with, and to explain certain words of reference. Now we come to. "behavior."
 It does not mean being good" or bad" according to our old way. of thinking. IL must be regarded in broader light.
 The good boy of old was quiet. polite. did everything he was told. studied, got high marks, washed his ears and go on. The bad one was his precise opposite. "GoOd" vs Bad BOys'
 If the good boy was just biding his time to show all the pent-up meanness in him, and sometimes it took years, we didn't worry. The future could take care of itself. If his repression took the form of un- happiness. that didn't matter either. We couldn't "see" that he was unhappy and we were only concerned with outward appear ance.
 The "bad" boy. or the freer spirit that couldn't and wouldn't be downed by our domination was the one that worried us. We worried about his future with vengeance. And in many cases 1t was Justified. But the truth is that if we had recognized his behavior as natural behavior in childhood and had tried to direct it rather than curb it and thwart it, and had used his energy and spirit as agents for his own good rather than devils to be conquered, we would have saved ourselves trouble. Many of to-day's incorrigibles would be honest and very valuable citizens.
 It is the bad" boy that these six articles vii! deal with largely.
 A few words of explanation are first necessary.
 In every human being there are two fundamental instincts that lie deeply behind all behavior. This fact has been agreed upon by near ly all specialists in mental hygiene to-day. They are, namely, the lego" or self instinct. the first law of nature, and the "sex" or contin- uation instinct. tn, second law of nature.
 Instincts Governor Behavior
 It would be interesting if there were time to show how actions that seem as far removed as the poles from any association with these two instincts are traceable to them.
 Now again we can put these things pretty we'll out of mind. The object in mentioning them is to show that behavior has reason" It can explain so much of what child does and perhaps it gives a clearer insight to all human emo- tions. Both self and the continua- tion instinct are as inalienable from behavior as the heart and lungs are from the body.
 "Behavior' CT conduct" is the outward demonstration of the mind by which it gets it's experi- ence. The mind grows and natures only by experience. We must be patient, try to get behind mean ings and not decide too quickly that don't" is magic word. it is. sometimes it isn't. The aim here is to try to urge in- sight rather than to recommend cures. The understanding mother will be able to work out her own cures.