Evening star., 1941-11-28

What attitude should parents as
sumo toward their children? You
would think that is a question even
a moronic father and mother could
answer right of the bat and that,
anyway, nature would furnish the
necessary information when 1t de-
livered the little bundle from
Heaven at their doors. But, unfor-
tunately. such Is not the case. No
tips from on high on how to handle
them are vouchsafed little Bobby's
and Susies nom and pop, and they
are left, alone and unaided, to mud
die through Job that calls for
the wisdom of Solomon, the tact of
a diplomat and the inner sight of
a clairvoyant.
Now there are three schools of
thought on this subject. One is
the little tin god pose. The Sec
ond is the doormat practice. And
the third is the pal fallacy. All OF
these have their adherents and all
Of these are inflicted upon luckless
little children by their devoted and
conscientious parents, who treat
them every way except the way
they want to be treated and need
to be treated. Each cult has its
points and each its defects. Let us
examine them.
The little tin god' attitude Of
parents toward children is not so
common now as it was in the
past, but it is still popular with
men and women who have inflated
egos and who try to teach their
children, from their infancy up, to
burn incense before them. While
their youngsters are still babes in
the cradle. the parents climb upon
self erected pedeStalS from which
nothing ever dislodges them. They
impress upon the infantile mind
that father never makes a mistake"
and that mother always knows
best"
Also they teach their children
that they have always been models
of all the virtues and never guilty
of any of the follies of modern
youth. Father loved to 60 to school.
He always stood at the top of his
class. He never gave his dear teach
er any trouble and wild horses
couldn't have drawn him to the old
swimming hole on sunshiny spring
morning. When he was an adoles-
cent lad he volunteered to do all
of the chores around the house.
worked after school hours at the
corner grocery and saved his money.
Nom was mothers little helper
who rushed home from school to
take the baby out in the pram; who
washed the dishes and who never
thought of such thing as stepping
out with a boy until she was 20 years
old.
Without doubt 1t must be a privi-
lege to be descended from such
faultless parents, but it makes an
insurmountable barrier between
them and their children, for what
has poor, faltering, weak humanity
got in common with godlings? How
is Johnny to tell father the mess
he has got himself into when father
was temptation proof when he was
young? How is Mary to conf1de in
mother about petting parties when
mother never kissed father until
after they were married?
Certainly the little tin god atti-
tude of parents toward their chill
dren is soothing to their own vanity,
but it isn't any help in an emergency
to the children.
The doormat practice is popular
among parents because it follows the
line of least resistance. 1t simply
consists in father and mother lying
down and letting the children walk
roughshod over them. The baby
rules the house. Youngsters In their
teens lay down the law to their ter
rorized and enslaved parents.
Mother and father go shabby that
their children may dress like Solo
mon in all his glory. They walk so
that the children may go joyriding
in the car. They work themselves
to death to send their children to
,swanky colleges. And their children
repay them with insolence and con-
tempt. which Is logical. When all
is said, there isn't much to respect
in a doormat.
A favorite attitude among parents
is being pals to their youngsters,
which is hard on the parents and
boring to the youngsters. For, after
all, no adult can put any real pep
into playing horsie and the game
goes flat for the child when he can't.
What children want are compan-