The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1934-03-10
Child Guidance
by
Frank Howard Richardson
M. D.. F. A. c. P.
Black Mountain, N. C., and
Brooklyn. N. Y.
THE CHILD OF THE BROKEN
HOME

The boarding school bully is a
hated, difficult nuisance, to be
dreaded by his fellows, cordially
detested by his teachers, and Of
tentimes to be expelled because
of his harmful influence upon the
whole school. But he is much more
than all of that is problem
to be solved; and it is for his
teachers to find out just what is
the cause of his misconduct.
One such boy made life a bur
den for everyone with whom he
came in contact, until a+Sympa-
thetic young teacher determined
to get at his story. 1t was indeed
a pitiful one, when by tact and
sympathetic handling he finally
drew it forth. Home had never
been anything but a battle ground
as he expressed it, between two
selfish parents whose whole life
interest seemed to be to show each
other up as inhuman monsters.
Each had appealed to him for
sympathy; neither had ever
thought of him as God-given re-
sponsibility, to be trained for
successful manhood.
Divorce had finally come,-but.
too late to help create anything
better for him than his jangling
home had provided. One school
after another had tried to get be-
meath the protective veneer of
hardness with which he succeeded
in yelling his true life. Society
had dealt unfairly with him-that
much he felt instinctively; and
he was struggling, in a Blind,
ineffective way, to get back at,
Fate by making others with whom
he came in contact equally unhap-
Ply.
Treatment? That is another
story, too long to be gone into
here. Our lesson now is to realize
the Importance of preventing such
a product as this "child of the
broken home" Home, and nothing
but a happy home, can ever give
the feeling of security which this
boy craved. Without it, he was a
pest to the society that had
wronged him.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
QUESTION: Dear DR.. Richard
son: My three and four-year-old
daughters are reasonably well-be-
haved when we are alone. But
when we have company, they en-
barrass us terribly by asking them
how soon they are going home,
repelling all friendly advances,
and criticizing everything they say
and do. l know that sounds ride
ulous in children so young; but it
simply drives me frantic. Why
does not some punishment icure
them?
ANSWER: Punishment rarely
does cure such things,-when we
recall the fact that they are
caused chiefly by strange urge
that even the best of us have to
attract attention. If we cannot
get favorable attention, we'll take
the next best kind, unfavorable,
even if it comes in the form INF
punishment. Try giving the chill
dren little more love and demon
strative affection; maybe that
kind of attention will prove so
much more delightful that they'll
stop craving the other sort.
QUESTION: How can 7 cure
MY little boys tantrums? He has
a crying fit whenever refuse
him what he wants; and he'd cry
himself sick if l didn't finally give
in to him. Will he get better with
time,-or worse?
ANSWER: Worse, unouestion-
ably,-unless you realize that cry
ing himself sick two or three times
would eventually mean that he
had cried himself well. The tan
trum is always means to an end.
The means will never be discon-
tinued until it ceases to produce
the desired end. And that rests
entirely with you.