Evening star., 1936-07-14

The Years
Good Idea
Family bookkeeping
Complies Fine
Documents.
BY ANGELO PATRI.

n
BOOKKEEPING goes with business
and there Is no more important
business in life than rearing a family.
A new book should be opened at the
birth of each child and a faithful
record of his growth, behavior and
important experiences set down. This
sounds like a lot Of work, but even
busy mothers can do it once they
determine to make the effort. In a
few minutes after bedtime. the few
minutes Of quiet every mother has,
the record for the day can be made.
The book ought to be sturdily bound
and have leaves enough to allow for
some 20 years Of recording. AS each
days record is brief, this is not i'm
possible The books should be kept
in a secret place and the children
should not know Of their existence.
It would not be good for an adoles-
cent, perhaps, to read what his mother
thought of him when he was 3, and
then what she thought of him when
he was 8. Adolescents are sensitive
and likely to get their feelings bruised
on hard facts, especially hard facts Of
record.
The book records the date Of the
child's birth and anything about it
that the mother cares to set down for
the child to read, in later years. Then
his feeding formulas, if any, and their
changes. The date and the emotions
that heralded the first tooth. The first
word should be recorded and the cir
cumstances. also the first step. A de-
scription Of his clothes is always in
order and afforus delight to the grown
up child whose record and special
property this book becomes.
Especially should the mother record
her feelings, her joy, anger, fear, hope
that centers in the child. This will
be a great source of strength for the
young mother who reads it and sees
reflected there the same experiences
she undergoes from day to day. 1t will
help her to keep up her courage when
she finds that after all the naughti-
ness, the willfulness, and the wrong
doing Of childhood and adolescence
she came through a normal human
being, still loved by her mother.
Such a record means a great deal
to the mother as she makes it from
year to year, and If there are several
children, one record sheds light on
the other. Not that the children will
ever be alike, they will show shades
and degrees of differences over the
entire scale. but always there will be
a fundamental likeness. All children
have hungers, all have ways of salts
flying them. The pattern they weave
as they set about this business of liv-
ing is what we call behavior, and this
varying behavior with its queer SINH
larities becomes basis for the moth
er's understanding of her family.
We all forget much Of what hap
pens and when occasion comes to
remember we make mistakes. Often
in considering children correct record
of their growth and experiences helps
parents to make sound decisions. An
experience with one child often helps
to interpret an experience with an
other. and the record furnishes cor
rect recital of the matter in question.
Memory cannot play tricks with the
written word. Nor can emotion alter
the facts.
When such a book can be handed
a daughter when she is setting out
to establish her own family there is
true cause for congratulation. And
the times comes when the books for
the boys can be passed on with ad-
vantage. = A family record becomes a
priceless inheritance, worth all the
trouble 1t took to make it.
tCopyright. 1936)