Evening star., 1936-09-09
Secret Inexpensive Meal Lies Choice Balanced nren
AdOleScent
Needs Soft
Treatment
Feelings of Growing
Girl or Boy are Very
/ Easily Wounded.
BY ANGELO PATRI.


"A DoLEscENT people are sensitive
"A to the point of suffering. Any
direct criticism is very painful. Their
absurdities are laughable to the
grown-ups who are looking on, or
they may be irritating. In any case
1t Is the better part of wisdom to
touch on these lightly, or the end
may be worse than the beginning.
When a young girl suddenly takes
on the appearance and mannerisms
of some woman she admires she may
appear absurd in your eyes, but be
assured that in her own she Is the
very pink of perfection. She is the
empress or the moving picture beauty
or the heroic leader of lost cause
that she is picturing, and if you are
cruel enough to lombard the frail
structure of her imagination you do
her no good and you do your cause
harm.
Who do you think you are? Greta
Garbo? If you could just see your
self you'd know how silly you were.
You don't look any more like Greta
Garbo than you do like Queen Marie.
For pity sake go wash your face, comb
your hair, put on some other sort of
dress and look as much like human
being as you can. Hurry before any
body sees you
That may make you feel lot bet
ter, but it wounds the girl to the
quick. She knows she is not her idol,
ha O c
brave or as whatever it is that she
longs just then to be. She wants to
feel that way, though, and it may be
that the feeling will do as much for
her as your prescription of everyday
practical living will do. Move deli
cately when dealing with such phases
Of growth. All too soon they pass,
and the mature person stands where
the child stood, and with the passing
of the child beauty passes also. One
would like to capture and hold some of
this f1eeting beauty of childhood. A
delicate touch might help.
Boys have the same feelings as girls
have IN this phase of wishful living.
They copy a pattern, take some hero
as their model 1t may be the worth
less person down the street or the
leader of great cause straight from
the pages of book, but the effect on
the youngster is the same in that his
alteration shows in strange little quirks
Of behavior, funny gestures that fit his
youth grotesquely, but they should not
be laughed away.
The half-grown child cannot take
over the character and the soul of
the admired one, so he does the next
best thing-takeS over the obvious
qualities of speech, manner and general
behavior. When a child tries to scowl
like Theodore Roosevelt, or gestures
like a Mussolini, or walks like a
Pershing, don't laugh at him. Just
understand what is happening and
60 on from there.
When girl initiates the voice of
q movie star, or of the high school
teacher, or the visiting lady from
abroad, don't jump at her and ridicule
her, but try to see that this child is
cropping toward an ideal of behavior.
Do your best to feed the ideal and let
the obvious material gestures 60 for
the time. They will be shed very soon.
These growing children are very
sensitive to blame or praise Blame
kills their spirit, but praise lifts it on
wings. Give them lift whenever you
can. and if you must blame, do it ever
20 delicately.
(copyright. 1860