Evening star., 1937-03-23
Children
Catch Our
Feelings
Mothers Must Control
Their Emotion When
Handling Babies.
Photo BY Fred q. Korth.
BY ANGELO PATRI.

RABIES have to have morning Daths'
and invariably they cry and kick
and protest as strongly as they know
how before the operation is finished.
Always they dislike having their eyes
wiped, and their noses cleaned, and as
| these are both rather delicate tasks
the mother is likely to have difficult
time II she allows the strain of the
situation to irritate her, make her
tense and even angry. the trouble Is
more than doubled.
Children feel the moods Of people
through the hands that touch them
even though the voice and manner Is
sternly controlled. Stern control makes
tension in the body and mind, and that
tension Is promptly conveyed to the
baby or child that is undergoing treat
ment. At once the child stiffens against
| the attitude Of the mother. He tries to
get away from it, finds he cannot, re-
sists to the limit Of his powers and
ends up by having screaming time,
Mother ends UP with headache.
The worst of it is that the child will
not want to meet the situation again
next day. The moment he sees prep
arations for his bath he stiffens to re-
| sist it. The worried mother stiffens
either her self-control or her temper
Either way makes for further trouble.
The child feels her tension, fears it,
| tries to resist and the trouble gets
| worse and worse until both mother and
child dread the approach OF the bath
| ing hour.
We cannot hide tension, anxiety,
anger or Joy from children. They
catch our feelings quickly and respond
to them promptly. If we are easy and
casual in our manner they feel no
tension and make little or no resist
ance. That is the only successful way
Of handling them. Feel no dread, take
what comes as matter Of course,
something that comes and goes in
routined fashion, and there will be less
trouble. The baby will certainly pro-
test about having his ears and nose
poked, but II the mothers mind is
steady her hands will be sure and
steady, too, and the baby will soon
accept the unpleasantness with more
philosophy.
Mealtime presents the same situa-
ton. If the mother shows anxiety
about the child's eating he will
promptly feel 1t and become anxious
and tense in his turn. Soon he will
be refusing to eat until he is bribed.
The bribe may be sweets, stories, scenes
and spanking. The nervous tension
transferred from mother to child has
brought out a very difficult relationship
between them. Only when the child
feels definitely that his mother is rot
gravely concerned about his eating
or not eating will his attitude change.
| It Is difficult to re-educate q child
once he has taken on this emotional
attitude toward his daily routine. He
is involved with his mother, every
movement OF her body, every tone in
her voice, every touch Of her hand
stirs the old feeling and he reacts in
the accustomed and unfortunate way.
The shortest way out is to have him
placed in new situation in which his
mother Is not evident. The best way
to prevent this emotional conditioning
by training oneself to accept what
comes without fear, anger or any other
soul-shaking emotion. Children are
quick to catch our feelings, so the
best We can do is to keep them well
trained and without tension OF any
kind.