The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1940-10-10
WHAT SHOULD
CHILDREN EXPRESS?
LEILA MUNSELL

The incidents here related illustrate
a dangerous perversion of a sound
principle in child development. These
most verbatim reports of actual oc-
currences.
A visiting professor from an eastern
I. college was giving series of lectures
s'a 81 a Midwest university. He and his
wife and two children were entertained
at dinner at the home of local pro-
fessor. When they came into the din
ing-room, the children, Horace and
Maud, began to inspect the table.
"What's that? ?" Maud demanded.
She was told it was roast pork.
cav. we don't like roast pork" OBJ
jected Horace. what kind of salad
is that?"
"That is tuna and cucumber salad"
The children exchanged grimaces Of
repugnance. "What are you going to
have for dessert ?" asked Maud.
1t was to be burberry pudding.
Again they expressed disapproval.
"We don't like that, either. Haven't
you got anything that's fit to eat? ?"
asked Horace.
The hostess was embarrassed, but
not so the parents. "Chidren must ex-
press themselves, you know" they
said, laughing.
Certainly; children must be priv
ileged to express themselves; a re-
pressed child is likely to be a defeated
adult. But what, with regard to them
selves, shall they express, and how
shall they express it?
Shall the small boy who shot all the
windows out of the garage be excused
on the grounds that he is expressing
his workmanship Shall the little girl
who made it habit to punch guests
in their stomachs and shout, 81 hate
you," be forgiven because she was ex
pressing her real feelings? Should
Benny be allowed to mix up all the
seeds in the seed store because he is
trying to express his interest in ex-
perimentation Is it all right for Ann
to scratch pictures on her hosts fur
niture in an effort to express her ar
tistic ability?
Emphatically, children should not
only be allowed, but encouraged, to eX
press themselves. But these children
were really not expressing themselves;
they were expressing a reaction of the
moment. Being still in the early
stages of development, they all needed
help. Children should be encouraged
to express good manners, not bad;
self-control, not temper; respect for
property, not destructiveness; kind
ness, not selfshness; love, not hate.
How? That's the question. 1t can
be done, but the recognition of GER
tain facts is necessary.
First, we must recognize that all
lovely traits are inherited in child
nature, and that the unlovely ones are
the result of unfortunate experiences.
Our task is to assist the child to de-
velop the right ones and to replace
those that are wrong.
Second, we must recognize the fact
that a certain amount and kind of con-
troll is necessary, in order that our
children may be given their rightful
opportunity for desirable expression.
We must modify and adapt the old
maxim "Children should be seen, not
heard" rather than abolish it alto
gether. To illustrate: no matter with
whom Mother is talking. Maud inter
rupts every few words to express"
something of interest to her alone.
Should she not be shown that it would
be very impolite for Mother to do that,
hence it is impolite for her? Mother
might say: "Let's wait until you and