Evening star., 1936-06-16
Redirecting
Youngsters
Activities S
When Conception of
Play Becomes
Questionable.
BY ANGELO PATRI.

I'm GOING to drive out TO Mill
vile, Friday afternoon, and I'm
taking you along. You can put in
your hiking clothes, and your fish
ing tackle, ard take your camera
I've invited Tubbs 10 go along"
Great idea, Nom. I'm your man.
Tubbs coming, too? That's fine
The trip was mothers way OF say
ing, DO this" instead Of Don't
do that Jack had been insisting
upon spending every spare moment
with a trio OF boys whose chief
interest seemed TO be bandit plays.
Mother saw with more and more
anxiety the development Of the game
First there were no weapons, not
even symbols, but soon there were
sticks, then toy pistols, then 8 %
appeared. From excited discussions
on the back porch the meetings went
to whispered conferences in an empty
garage. 1t was then that mother
laid her plans to change the cen
trail idea. She did not propose an
alternative; she stated a settled pro-
gram. Because it was all set and
presented positively. the boy never
thought Of questioning it.
After a few week ends OF another
sort he will not be so keen on this
business of guns and bandits. I'm
not mentioning the old game at all.
If I did he would feel aggrieved and
put up q battle. I'm just not know
ing about it,"
Try the idea next time you want
TO get child TO stop doing one thing
and begin another. Put stress on the
new interest, present 1t in full, all
details attended TO, all plans set, and
launch him on q new adventure
without ever backward glance.
There are times when children stick
in a rut, undesirable and worse, be-
cause they do not know how to get
out. Haul them out and never let
them know you did it, and they go
along happily in another scheme.
do this" is a great relief 10 q con-
fused mind.
Talking about the evil OF his ways is
not very helpful because to the child
his ways look good. He may feel un-
easy, maybe unhappy, about himself,
but he does not realize that his state
of mind is caused by his dominant
interests, his behavior. He believes he
is all right. Don't waste time in talk
ing about it, but use all your intelli-
gence and energy in deyising q scheme
that will interest him 80 strongly as to
top the undesirable interest. Dsplace
the wrong notion with a better one,
and make sure it is interesting and
attractive. Goodness must have as
much drama, as much life and color
and daring as its opposite il 1t is to
win. Children do not know goodness
as an abstraction. To them 1t must
come in experiences, and it is we who
can direct those experiences.
One parent out of a group cannot
do as much in this direction as the
group working together. Community
effort is always better than individual
effort In this matter OF redirecting
children and youths. II two or three
families are of one mind their children
usually follow. But If one must go
alone, one goes for his child's sake.
What saves the situation Is that
children respond to simple things that
are within reach Of most Of US. They
love activity In the open; camping,
fishing, hiking, cooking, organizing
shows, making collections, aiding in
community welfare. The world is 80
full OF number of things-for
children-that our task is not as diff
cult as 1t appears.
Copyright, 1850