Evening star., 1938-06-01
The Serious
Faults Of
Child
Any ublic Shaming
Or Beating Makes
Matters Worse.
BY ANGELO PATRI.

THE serious faults Of childhood de-
mand treatment and cure. BY seri-
GUS faults I mean those that people
generally condemn-lying, stealing,
cheating for personal gain, injuring
others without reason or pity. At some
time or other a child will show traces
of one Of these faults; a simple cor
rection serves the purpose. When these
tendencies seem to strengthen and
continue in spite of treatment and
corrections 1t is necessary to dig down
into the child's life to discover the
cause of the dificulty. Until that
cause can be found and removed, little
can be done to change the child's be-
havior.
Begin early. Be honest with your
self about the child's doing When you
see him planning, executing and COW
ering up deception or any other sort
of wrong doing, don't say, "It is all
his active imagination" to comfort
yourself and avoid the unhappiness
of laying bare his error. Imaginative
storytelling has q different quality
from selfish lying, and any experienced
adult knows the difference Cowardice
of spirit sometimes keeps us from
facing the ugly thing when we see it
rearing its head. Parents and teach
ers cannot afford that sort of self
indulgence. We have to dig down be-
low the roots of the thing and cast
1t out.
How? That is fair question, but
nobody has the answer because each
child varies according to his peculiar
nature. and one has to study each
mistake in relation to each child to
find the answer. One child is in fear
of social failure, another of punish
ment: one child is i'll, and illness
warps the thought of the patient. One
child lacks the power to judge right
from wrong: another Is suffering from
a disease Of the nervous system. A
few cases OF bad behavior are caused
by poor teaching and example at
home. The causes are as varied as the
behavior of the children, and must be
skilfully uncovered
This requires the cooperation of
the family, the school, the whole So
cial machinery that we have estab-
lished for the safeguarding of child
hood and youth. The physicians are
learning more and more how to help
erring children. So are the teachers
and the mothers All of us are needed
Time, patience, great faith and much
effort go into the problem of curing
the behavior cases, but the result JUS
titles it.
have no one remedy to offer, but
my experience has taught me that
there are few ways that do not work,
though they have been used time on
end. Public shaming Of the children
Is very harmful. Beating them makes
the bad matter worse Crying over
them and preaching at them only irri-
tate and bewilder them the more.
The only way that works is the slow
and careful way, taken step by step,
to the cause of the trouble.
Don't gloss over the facts to COM
fort yourself or excuse yourself. They
cannot be removed that way. Don't
feel disgraced, If you have done your
best to help the child. Don't tell the
world about his difficulties, but stand
by him; keep his confidence; remain
his friend. Never tell him that he is
hopeless and that you can't do any
thing with him. Maybe you feel that
way, but don't tell it. Try again and
have faith in the ultimate success of
your efforts. The great majority of
children tend to goodness and to nor
NAL, average maturity.
Mr.. Patri has prepared a leafiet
entitled The Bashful Child" in
which he tells parents how to cope
with oversensitiveness in children
Send for 1t, addressing your request
to Mr.. Angelo Patri, Child Psychology
Department of this paper. Inclose a
self-addressed. stamped (3-cent) en-
yelope,