Evening star., 1940-08-11
How to keep youngsters
and also the
people next door!
% &,ntM%@a
Author Of "Etiqvsffs: The Blue Book
Of SoeioI Usose," etc.
\ ERHAPs it is my own imagination,
! but it always seems to me that
children's vacation behavior

school ends and all the long tree days
are ahead, few go wild at once. but
manv are for while inclined to relax
and loaf. But toward mid August. the
realization that school will open all too
soon makes them want to get the most
out of every moment. And 'tun.
from the standpoint of healthy chill
dren, is naturally measured by action
and noise!
If children happen to live in the real
country - best of all on farm - the
question of annoyance to neighbors
need not be considered. But if they
live close to others, it is reasonable to
expect that their manners shall show
some consideration for the Next-doors
and the Across ss-the-streets. 1t is also
reasonable to expect the latter to show
some liberation Of the children. In
other words, the subject must be
considered from both angles.
Sometimes neighbors are unreason-
able in their complaints; sometimes
parents are extraordinarily deaf and
blind to the behavior of their darlings.
But far more often parents find the
situation very difficult one to cope
with. In other words. their problem is
how not to take away the freedom OF
their children, and yet at the same
time how not to destroy the enjoy
ment and tranquility of the people
who live next door.
One thing is certain according to
the letters sent mel very, very few
people can tolerate being awakened
at six or seven o'clock in the morning
especially on Sunday morning -
by the screaming, shouting, banging
and running of the children next door.
At summer resorts. where people are
taking their own long looked for
ward-to holiday, such disturbance is
even harder to bear.
This early morning problem can be
solved in several ways. The best way,
perhaps, is the old-fashloned family
doctors way of requiring young chill
dren to rest until the hour when it is
time to dress neatly and come to the
breakfast table. If the breakfast hour
is early, it might be wise to give each
child light task to be done every
morning at that time. Having small
amount of real work to do is not only
good training in character. but appeal
ing to almost every child.
A Cose in Point
! CAN best explain what | mean by
citing the case of a seven-year-old
boy. With his mother he was visiting
his grandmother who lives on the sea-
coast. He was allowed to go for swim
only in the morning. And one day he
objected violently to going to the
beach in the afternoon TO dig in the
sand. Il don't want to dig in the sand
like baby of three! he protested
stubbornly.
His grandmother thought moment
and then asked him: would you like
to do some digging for me? l don't
mean play digging!
"Where?" he asked.
She told him she wanted to add to
a long flower border But it was no
easy thing to do, she said; it was the
hardest kind of work and had to be
done expertly. How was it done, he
wanted to know, and eagerly he
listened to the description of making a
first-class flower bed. He was sure he
could do it all perfectly we'll He'd get
his friend Charlie, also aged seven, to
help. Charlie, also unwilling to dig on
the beach, willingly accepted the
garden work. Supervised by gardener
when further directions were neces-
sary, the two children kept at it per-
sistently, until they actually COM
pleted first-class flower bed 20 inches
deep by Ia inches wide by so feet
long. This was quiet work that dis
turbed no one.
md