Evening star., 1937-08-20
Scaops and Chicken e Cooked Brochete Sunday Dime
Adjusting
A Delicate
Situation
Youth Must Go For.
ward While Age
Stands Still.
BY ANGELO PATRI.

By ANIkLU FAlhl.
4 MEXICAN fathers and mothers
work for the advancement of
their children. They save in order to
send them to the best schools. dress
them according to the standards Of
the day, give them "the best OF every
thing" They succeed In rearing the
finest young people on earth. Then
what2
Often the children have gone beyond
their parents socially Manners are
subtle things. not easily explainable
In words. Long practice. long associ-
alton with those whose standard they
are. make them the expression of
personality. They are the very essence
Of that persons being, his funda-
mental expression.
Father and mother, perhaps, were
not reared in the atmosphere of social
niceties. They have stayed close to
the home and mingled with their old
associates; their manners have
they eased their tired bodies into old
clothes. comfortable, and not to be
classed as anything else. Old shoes
and old slippers, old ways and old
clothes; old friends and old customs,
the settled ways. And all the while
the children were learning new ways,
wearing new clothes, cultivating new
ob,
home and the home folks They en-
tertain their friends somewhere else
and two panied and puzzled old people
ask why? Are they ashamed Of us?"
It is delicate situation Nobody
Is to blame. It just is that way. 1t is
not shame the children feel so much
as it Is awkwardness and discomfort
The affection they have for their
fathers and mothers makes them
suffer to see them at disadvantage
They cannot save them from appearing
In the unfortunate position of the
parents Of the Ugly Duckling. Father
enters room in his shirt sleeves.
wearing the old slippers, smoking a
cigar or an old pipe; shouts hearty
"Hullo," and does his best to make
the young man calling on his beautiful
daughter feel at home. His appearance
has the opposite effect. even though
the young man has precisely the same
father In his own home. There is a
gap between the two generations
spanned by affection, and the great
problem on both sides is how to
maintain the affection under the
strain that is put upon 1t.
Nobody is to be blamed. The matter
has to be faced and the situation
scanned for possible adjustments. The
old folks will have to remember that
they worked and sacrificed to give
their children opportunities they them
selves had wanted and could not have
Now that their object has been
achieved they must not penalize the
children they trained to go beyond
them. Not above them, but beyond
them. There Is all the difference in
the world In the two attitudes.
Don't allow the questions OF being
good enough" for the children raise
itself There Is no such question. The
children have been trained in diff
ferent school and their manners are
different Their fundamental char
actor Is the same fine thing their
fathers and mothers lived by and
passed along to them. They love their
parents; they want to prove their
loyalty to them. but there has to be a
new meeting place for their minds,
new understanding Of old loyalties.
Couldn't father and mother train
along with their growing children and
80 avoid the worst OF this? And
cannot the intelligent, well-trained
young people, who owe their success
to their fathers and mothers, find ways
of adjusting some OF the difficulties?
1t requires delicate technique, but 1t
ought not to be beyond 4 generation
Of young people such IS ours. Youth
must 60 forward. Age must remain
content where 1t stands. 1t is for
youth to span the gap with affectionate
understanding and loyalty.
Mr.. Patri has prepared = leaflet
entitled "A Book List" giving the
titles Of . wide variety Of books all
children should read. Send for 1t,
addreasing your request to Mr.. Angelo
fati. Child Psychology Department Of
this paper. Inclose = self addressed,
stamped (3-cent) envelope.
(Copyright, 1e37)
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