Evening star., 1939-03-24
HelpingHand
With Child
Effort Wearies Him,
Breeding Distaste
For Any Work
Ry ANGELO PATRI.

Little children two years old can
not, as a usual thing, feed them
selves throughout a meal. They
can do some of it, and they can do
more OF it, if they get a little help.
Begin the meal by feeding the first
spoonful, maybe two; then give
the child the spoon and let him
feed himself couple of spoonfuls.
Then take your spoon again.
I ind that 1t is better to have
two spoons for this process. The
child has the short one with the
looped handle, the adult the usual
teaspoon. Each can manage his
own spoon more cleverly than he
can the others, and that reduces
fatigue which is what we want to
do, for the child especially. When
the last few spoonfuls are reached,
let the child finish by himself so
that he feels he accomplished some
thing. Don't forget to praise him
for his part in the ceremony.
The same thing holds when toys
have to be put away. The child is
tired; play takes a lot out of
him, so that putting away toys be-
comes a task. The job is not as
easy for him as for the adult, re-
member. The child has yet to
adjust his muscles and control them,
while he does the work. The adult
does 1t without thinking about it
at all.
In order to tighten the task guard
against having too many things
out at one time. Consider the kinds
of toys that are in use. Don't have
three or four kinds of blocks out
at once, unless the child is over
the stage Of infancy, eight to 10.
Runabouts cannot manage too many
pieces. Thinking about them, see
ing them around, wearies and con-
fuses him. Keep the number Of
toys and the number of pieces down.
Then give him a hand at clearing
up time. He does the job, but you
help him. That trains him to like
the job, or at least not to fight
against 1t, as he will certainly do
If he is tired.
Little children find dressing
themselves trying task. Putting
buttons into button holes, getting
= garment on right side to, tying
strings. are processes that require
coordination that some children
cannot command. Teach the lit
tie one to assume this task grad
ually, and even when he can, with
great effort, accomplish the whole
job, help him. The effort wearies
him too much and that breeds dis
taste for any kind of work With
the hands. Ease things by lend
ing q hand.
Older children meet this diff
Guilty. Grown people have an idea
that the children ought to be able to
do household chores as easily as
they do them. "She can sweep
as well as can; make a bed
beautifully if she wants to. She
knows how to wash the dishes now
as we'll as she will ever know.
What's hard about chores like these
for a 12-year-ol girl?"
The technique, the sustained ef-
fort, the lack of appealing inter-
est are some of the forces that
make chores . hardship for chill
dren.
Consider carefully what is hap
pening under your nose. Is the
routine Of the household well or
ganized7 Has the child an inter-
est in the work? Have you helped
set that interest? Is the child left
to do the work alone, to look at
it as something dreary that must
be done, or do you make it a CO.
operative affair? Help q little, keep
your hand under the child's and
the work will be done better, and
IN better spirit.
Mr.. Patri has prepared leaf
let entitled, Crying Children"
In which he tells parents how to
cope with the crying habit In
children. Send for II. Address
your request to Mr.. Angelo Patri,
Child Psychology Department Of
this paper. Inclose . self-ad.
dressed. stamped (3-cent) en-
velepe.