Evening star., 1937-05-03
Remember
Children
Grow Up
The Only w ay to
Keep Them Is by
Letting Them Go.
BY ANGELO PATRI,

HAVE you looked at the children
lately? How long ago did you
take time to look intently at them
and really see them? Six weeks?
Six years2 When? Children grow
steadily and silently The changes
come so slowly and so unobtrusively
that there is different child in the
house before you are aware
Habits grow upon children swiftly.
You hadn't noticed that Ronnys
manners were so bad until he failed
to greet your guest last evening and
Inundated you by his boorish be-
havior. You hadn't noticed that
twitch In Caroline's face until the
teacher mentioned it and said that
1t had been there for some time. The
crib must have shrunk, or something,
for you hadn't noticed that the baby
had outgrown it and was making a
fuss every bedtime now, because hs
wanted a bed like a big bows bed.
"Funny how children change over
night"
They don't. They change over a
NilNl VI odSo anu NtthS d1lu 8.
We don't see them change We keep
seeing them as We saw them at first,
helpless little things in their mothers
arms. Worse than that, We keep right
on treating them as If they were
still the helpless infants of our first
youths, young people in need Of out
lets of personal feelings, tastes and
desires
One girl of Is is still getting the
one dollar q month allowance that
her father gave her when she en-
tered sixth grade in elementary school
though she is a senior high school
girl ready for college Father has
not noticed that daughter has been
growing.
Another girl in her 2Os is not al
lowed to receive the boys in her home
because father and mother have not
realized that daughter has grown
into young woman with a young
Woman's interests, needs and desires.
There Is boy whose arms stick
out OF his sleeves like broom han
dies, whose legs stretch far beyond
the short sxpense of his knickers.
He hates to be seen and begs for
! longles, but father and mother see
him as the little boy in rompers,
| not as the fledgling half feathered.
There is a little boy and a little
girl in their early teens who never
have been away from home for a
single day since they were born into
1t. They never have gone anywhere
without father or mother beside them
Ihey are longing to go with the
Scouts and the Campfres, longing
to go to camp as other boys and girls
do, but father and mother see their
babies still, not the eager youngsters
rarin' to go on their own.
If this did not injure the children.
mar their growth and strain their
| affection for home and parents. it
| would not matter. But it does all
| this and much more II breeds re-
belllon, and that leads TO mental
illness, bad behavior, sad mistakes.
Try to keep pace with the growth
OF the children and see them more
as they are rather than as the dream
| children OF long ago. 1t is hard TO
part with clinging child, but it Is
much harder to have TO face q re-
bellious angry broken-h hearted child.
Let the children grow up even though
every gain tugs at your heart strings.
BY letting them 60 you keep them.
That is the only way you ever will be
able to keep them
Mr.. Patri has prepared a leafet
entitled, The Shy Child" in which
he tells parents how to help children
overcome shyness and fear. Send
for it, addressing your request to Mr..
Angelo Patri Child Psychology De-
| pertment Of this paper. Inclose a
self addressed, stamped (3-cent) en-
velope.
eCopyriRht. 1887