The Waterbury Democrat., 1935-03-30
EE YOUR CHILDREN
g. Ol~s Roberts Bartoa : - ssls lRssz CIVIC. z<..-. -.

Social influence. Know what il means? Everywhere t mother turns to-day she is confronted with it, 50 she should know. It is usual. ly everything she is not and no. thing that she is. It is the air, the street, the people, the play and the places of everyday life. And il is about ninety per cent of ( young persons existence.
 If mother could give this mon- ster a dose of morphia she very likely would. It is her natural en. emy because 1t is her rival.
 If mothers had their way, there would be no motor cars not driv- en by parents. There would be no books outside of Shakespeare (expurgated), the, Bible and Pol lyanna. Or something like Black Beauty for the boys. Movies would show the Elsie Books or Tom Brown at Rugby.
 Parties woulud consist of riddles and tiddledewinks. Home lessons would be the best indoor sport Embroidering violets on sachets would be real culture and chop. ping a noble pile of stove wood the height of genuine manliness.
 Exaggerating the Case
 Ihope have made you mad dear ladies. It is all have been working for. Because I no more believe that than I believe I am | silly fool. The above paragraph just illustrates q point.
 Almost every mother in the world knows life would be simpler and easier if there were fewer things for the young to do. fewer places to go, less people to know less to read, to see, to hear, to experience. In her heart she knows she could do her job better if she did not have a thousand battles on her hands. Not only that but she realizes most or much of outside influence puts the notion in her adolescent's mind that she knows nothing.
 True. it Is a mistake to state generalities as all the truth. A great deal of outside influence is her ally. If Scott Work and Dra- matic Clubs were all of 1t, there would be cause for unconfined joy. And the many good movies to-day and the wilderness of gooS books intended for youthful eyes. Parents Arc Part Of It She has. this mother, almost as many champions in her cause as enemies, if it were not for the other things. Children are t. worldly wise to-day as their par. ents; they brag they are more so And although it is foolish to try to kep them babes in arms, and futile. it strikes me that this sliok racketeer. social influence, is get ting away with too much. I, for one. am entirely fin sympathy with the mother who worries.
 But there is a little matter that most people don't think of about the parents place in all this. Il is that parents themselves are part and parcel of the very things they fear. By giving consent tc the wrong things, by slowing 8 certain indifference to the way children amuse themselves and SC on. they are in collision with the very forces they decry.
 Check on Youth Needed
 "Be friends with your children and let them SC you are as up-to- date as they are" is one thing Tt put one's foot down at the right time and in the right way is another. If the parent is to lose out by either method. he or sht may as we'll get something out oi 1t and put forth his authority Naturally happy relationships ir families are the best infiuenct prescribed for youthful welfare But too great laxity, or too much weakness never yet made for very strong family ties.
 I don't think 1t necessary fol yout hto run wild. would noi give kid a motor car and q gal account to do with as he pleases would inquire into promiscuoui dancing. would set a time foi he'd. And not perhaps unless knew all the answers and darr good reason why 1t should bt otherwise.
 Copyright 1895. NEA service. Incl