The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-12-18

or that the incident is closed till I
have the money to spare. In other
words, he can be reasoned with, but
daughter, oh! She is a little past
Is and puts her best foot forward
to make friends. They like her at
first, but after few days she gets
the air! She resents criticism, never
wants to do anything anybody else
wants unless it fits in with her
own plans. She will ask favor no
matter how big from people who
have been good to her. After she
receives it she will ignore them until
she wants something else.
The worst thing anybody has
done to her is try to save her from
hurting herself. They talk kindly to
her and try to show what her sharp
tongue, quick temper and disrespect
for older people are doing for her.
We have told her how we budget
the income and why she can't have
this or that, but she gets indignant
and takes the attitude that we don't
want her to have it. We permit her
to have company and go out provid-
ing it does not interfere with her
school work.
Morally she is good, but she thinks
this old world was created for her
and recognizes nobody's rights but
her own. How did she get that way?
She plays an instrument, sings we'll,
loves to read, but is still a disagree
able, unhappy girl. We love her just
the same and really want to- help
her, but we can not and will not
humor her at the expense and COM
fort of everyone else.
We have failed somewhere in her
upbringing, but why the difference?
The boy has the same environment.
LOST IN A FOG MOTHER.
Answer: While your children
have had the same material en-
vironment, they have not had a
similar psychological experience at
| all. For example, your son never
has been the only child of his
parents. He never has known
what it was like to have been the
only child of his parents. He never
has known what it was like to
have the whole household center
around him exclusively. And he
has not known what it feels like
to be dethroned by a deadly rival
in the form of new baby before
he was old enough to know what
it was all about.
Besides he is male and never
has felt inferior because of his
sex. He never has been told that
girls can not do this or that SIM
ply because they are girls. Most
families are perfectly unconscious
of the fact that they>>still feel
there is something just little bit
superior about the masculine sex.
They bend over backwards to con-
ceal their feeling that boys have
an edge on the girls, but it comes
out in countless subtle ways.
Your daughters demanding at
titude may have started from
nothing more serious than the
fact that as a baby she heard
you say, I'm so glad my second
child was a boy" In some way
she has come to feel that her
brother gets all the breaks and
she doesn't know how to get at
tention for herself except by being
disagreeable.
Of course, she is on the wrong
track. She is trying to succeed
on the useless side of life simply
because it is easier for particular
personality to cause trouble than
to quell it. I am sorry that I can
not tell you exactly what to do
about it, for each case is study
in itself and the cure more of an
art than 8, science.
If she were my daughter would
put her in the hands of repu-
table psychiatrist. This is the
only method I know which is sue
cessful in dealing with personality
disorders. The girl isn't hopeless
by any manner of means. She
is no worse off than thousands of
others who go through life max
ing those whose fate it is to live
with them miserable.
II is only recently that we have
learned to look upon disagreeable
people as sick personalities instead
If merely mean ueorle.