Evening star., 1935-09-26


me So a week out Of his $l2 pay, but
his father tells him not to do it.
His father tells me should not take
the money as we do not need it. I
pay the boys laundry, give him lunch
and give him small amounts to spend.
He is very saving boy and has banK
account that he never forgets to add
to each week. He is a splendid boy.
take the money because I want 10
make him feel that he must share his
income. Am I right in demanding
this money? MRS. w.
Answer: OF course, in the cases
where the parents are poor and need
their children's earnings to support
the family, there is no question of the
mothers rights to their pay envelopes.
1t is case of needs must when the
devil drives.
But when the family is in comfort
able circumstances and the youngsters
are just getting start and are earn
| ing pittance at best, it has always
seemed to me hard thing for the par
entS to demand board of them. After
all. they are so young and the road is
SO hard, why not make it little easier
for them If you can?
TN YOUR case, instead Of charging
the boy board, why not let him use
the money to pay for his laundry.
lunches and the little expenses that
you pay for? That will give him a
sense of responsibility and independ-
ence and make him feel that he IS
standing on his own feet. There is
something about knowing that you are
paying your own way and are not be-
holden to any one, that does more to
stiffen the spine and develop character
than any other one thing in the world.
Personally, I think that a mother
makes no greater mistake than when
| she makes her children turn over their
entire earnings to her. 1t is doubtless
true that she knows how to spend 1t
more wisely than they do and that she
does spend most of it on their clothes
and upkeep and board.
x
RUT her taking the children's money
reduces them to the level Of
slaves. They never have the pleasure
Of handling the money they have
worked so hard for. They never have
| the thrill that comes of having the
money they have earned in their pock-
cts. They never have that glorious
sense of financial independence.
Worse still. they never learn how TO
handle money.
Nothing kills energy and ambition
quicker than this, and many boys and
girls not only become slackers because
they never see the color Of the money
they make. but come to regard their
mothers as oppressors who rob them
of their hard-earned wages.
Far better for mother to fix on a
definite board for them to pay. when 1t
is needed and let them have the bal
ance Of what they earn to use as they
see fit. II they waste it, they will learn
better from their mistakes. For spend
ing money is an art that we only ac-
quire by practice. DOROTHY DIX.
IDEAR MISS DIX: am young
woman unhappily married to a
man who tries to dominate me in every
way. We don't see things from the
same angle and he treats me as if I
were a child. 1 have to ask his opin-
ion about everything do. but he does
as he pleases without consulting me.
l have met married man who is hav-
ing identically the same trouble in his
home. Nothing he does is ever right
with his wife. For eight years he has
been trying to make her the kind of
a woman he wanted her to be, but has
failed. We have fallen in love with
each other. What shall We do, con-
tinue unhappily as We have been, or
divorce our mates and marry and be
happy? We both have children.
UNHAPPY.
Answer: What makes you think that
you will get along any more peacefully
with each other than you do with your
present mates? If you are imagining
that you will not .Iave to adapt your