Evening star., 1943-01-12
So Your Husbands Gone 10 War!
By ETHEL a0RnAM-
CHAPTER. TX.

CHAPTER TX.
One Of the Things He's Fighting For.
What is important Is that war Is
bad-but there are things worse.
And you owe your children, no mat
ter how young, q reason why.
Where is daddy, mummy? VIII
he die? What happens when you
die?" the child asks.
why Is daddy going to kill other
people, mummy? Are the Japs really
bad? Are the Germans mean? Do
they always like to kill people2"
Older children viii shy away from
abstract answers. Younger ones
won't understand them at all. You
can't tell your 12-year-old son about
liberty" and equality" and "democ-
racy" without honestly pointing out
how short Of the mark they are
here. You must tell him that at
least there is the chance Of liberty"
and democracy" in America-while
Fascism would give q lad his age
nothing to look forward to but en-
slavement. And because there is
still the chance here to make de-
mocracy a working thing, you must
tell him how to do 1t. Since racial
intolerance is one Of the most OBJ
noxious tenets Of Naziism, you must
point out how important 1t Is for us
to wipe 1t out in our own country,
beginning first in his school. Be-
cause women are held In such con-
tempt under Fascism, you must re-
mind him how vital 1t is that In
America Susie gets the same chance
to 20 to school and work and study
as Johnny. You can't have freedom,
YOU must tell him, unless 1t is free
dom for all-and that means free
dom from poverty, freedom from
hunger, freedom from overwork, un-
derpay, indecent houses, worry.
Because his father Is away from
home fighting you must give him
a cause to be fighting for as well as
against. That is something q r.
year-old son can understand.
Even with very young children
YOU must not make 1t too simple.
You cannot say, in black and white,
that Germans are bad; 50 are the
japanese; but the English, Cana
dians, Australians, Americans and
Dutch are always good.
Little Hilda who goes to school
with your child Is German. us she
bad, mummy"
"No," you answer. But little
Hilda is different"
"Why Is she different?"
You cannot tell your child it's be-
cause little Hilda lives here now.
You know there must be Germans tn
Germany who are good" today.
Even though 1t might be simpler to
make 1t an open-and-shut case OF
right and wrong, you can't do 1t.
You, too, must remember that the
word democracy" is not an abstract
one. Be grateful that our genera
ton isn't carrying on as namely as
the one in the last war! we
haven't changed the name Of sauer-
kraut back to liberty cabbage. we
know the difference between Nazis
and Germans.
The best sign Of how far ahead
we are in democratic spirit as
neople is that in this war we play
Beethoven and Brahms and Schu-
mann and Schubert without ques-
ton.
We honor those German refugees
who have found q haven on our
shores. They teach in our un1ver-
stiles, edit our magazines, write Tor
our newspapers, paint pictures we
go to see.
Were fighting the enemies OF
these Germans" we can tell our
children, when we fight the Nazis."
One Of the things you can sensibly
tell your children is how broke you
are. You cannot start too soon to
have them cooperate with you IN
the financial upheaval.
Hush-hush about money Is ridic-
ulous. Let them know that one OF
the things that went with daddy
was former comfort. Indeed It Is
one way to bolster up daddy's place
in your household. They must never
forget that life was different when
he was there.
Hold on to as many Of the forms
and customs of your family lie as
YOU can. You cannot shatter young
security too much If there are still
the birthday parties to give, the an
niversaries to remember, the dog to
be walked, the grandmamma to visit.
But do not hold on to a meaningless
shut-eye against facts when even
the dullest child can see how things
have changed.
There is, OF course, no need to be
unpleasantly frank. It's just as easy
to give children personal satisfac-
ton in helping in crisis as 1t Is to
scare them into It.
Does Nancy crave q new doll or
new skates or new scooter? You
can answer her this way:
Daddy is fighting war, Nancy.
He needs all the things that 60 into
those skates to help him fight It.
Don't you want tO help?
VIII you help?-Magical words
with a childl Not only does Nancy
forget to weep over the lack Of new
skates, she's proud to know she has
given her father q scrap of steel.
I'VE can't afford 1t" needn't be
words of discipline and impatience.
They can be a friendly exchange Of
regret. well, too bad, maybe an
other time"
You'll find your children want to
help in the war effort. The ways
~ q "