Evening star., 1939-06-12
More Recipes for Putting Cherries Requests Reader
Put Fragile
Things Out
OF Reach
Child Soon Learns
What Objects He
May Handle
BY ANGELO PATRI.

The baby took a great fancy to a
bit OF glass, gay porpoise standing
on his head on a brightly colored
sphere, OF course he could not have
1t. and he cried for 1t loudly, with
beseechlng hands outstretched.
mo, no. said his mother, See,
here is your pussy" With swift
gesture the baby struck the pussy
from his mothers hand and, tears
streaming down his face, reached
again toward the bright fish on the
mantel.
No, no. again said his mother,
swiftly sliding the ornament behind
picture. Il think I hear Fido at the
door. Come, we'll look for him.
The frantic yells died down, and.
with many backward glance toward
the place where the lovely thing had
been, he allowed himself to be car
rled to the door to greet Fido.
Later on his grandmother said,
You ought not to have hidden the
thing. You should have left it right
where 1t was and made him under
stand that he couldn't have every
thing he sees"
l think his mother was wiser. She
will have to struggle with the child
many times a day for the next few
years in order to teach him what he
can and what he cannot touch. II
she can save herself and the child a
few trying experiences, so much the
better. There IS no need of pro-
Vldlng experiences of this kind be-
cause every day will bring its own
share. 1t is wise to put away fragile
ornaments, when that is possible,
during the year that the baby is
learning about things by touching
them, handling them.
This phase of growth is important.
The child must touch and handle
things to understand about them.
1t is best to let him touch only what
Is safe for him and for the objects
In the beginning. AS he grows in
understanding he is given greater
freedom.
To save the household treasures
we start the child on his learning
expedition with the mystery bag, or
box. We take a bright -colored bag,
or interesting box and put mixture
OF things that interest little ones in
1t. The investigator pulls out any
thing he touches and examines it.
sometimes indicating that he would
like to know its name His mother
tells him the name, just that one
word, clearly. Balls of different
klnds-rubber, wood, yarn, glass are
good to start with. Add new things
from time to time and remove those
that the child no longer touches. In
these bags and boxes we put odds
and ends of all SortS-little TOYS. a
bell a whistle, fabrics of all sorts
and cOlors, metals, stones. clothes
pins, tin toys mo sharp edges,
spoons. pans. strings. beads. boxes
with lids that can be taken off and
put back. The idea is that by
handling and using these things the
child gets the experiences he Graves
without damage to the household
belongings or to himself.
There is no sense. in my opinion, in
making life harder for little children
and their mothers "on principle"
I don't understand that principle.
Some people think that children
ought to be given the hardest prob
lens, the meanest numbers to work
with, the hardest way first in every
thing so that they will be trained
in hardship. To their way of think
Ing, work must be hardship
Some bitterness comes to us all
without our seeking it. Teach
children to do their work in what
ever form or circumstance it appears,
but when you can make the form
simple and the circumstances easy,
do SO with clear conscience. know
ing that life will do the rest. Life
supplies plenty of grief for children
and for us who have to do with them.