The Michigan chronicle. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1936-current, 1945-03-24

grandchildren.
Horace A. White When a child
has to experience hunger and dep
rivation. he learns to hate, and at
the same time fear the adults about
him. He expresses this hostility
toward his parents and toward all
adults who come into his relation
ships. The child becomes agrees
sve and destructive. He hates the
adults around him whom he holds
responsible. and rightly so, for per-
mitting him to be hungry and
transported from place to place
without any sense of belonging.
The parents. even though they
would, cannot give their children
a sense Of security and belonging
IN war torn area. The parents
cannot, unless they are very strong
parents--and most parents are not
very strong. because the parents
are fear-stricken and they are ag-
gressive toward their children.
Their children become a tempo
rary burden to their own program
OF self protection. In other words,
the parents Of children in a war
torn area transmit their insecurity.
fear and hostility to the children.
Thus. the children are left with
nothing to cling to save the fact
that they are helpless in . world
Of hostile adults. The hostility of
the adults causes the child To sup
press his hostility. which hsAtility
or hate Is expressed in anxiety and
aggression.
The above serves as a little
background for our discussion
about children and war in our own
country. We are holding great
many conferences for parents these
days in order to help them become
better parents" In most Of these
discussions that ! have heard re-
Gently, and, participated in, we
have completely ignored the chill
dren. We have talked as if these
children existed in another world.
We have even talked to the par
ens as IL they are not the victims
OF the same thing Of which chill
dren are the victims-war and its
economic devastation, social devas-
sAhAbii oiAA eftAilAd4 dCk dSld
Our children do not know what
to do with the hate We ask them
to experience through our radios,
newspapers and schools toward our
enemies, the Germans, the jana
nese and the Italians. Our children
only know that they are being
asked to hate. A child develops
enough hate In the ordinary proc
ess of growing up. His whole being
is looking for . substitute for the
hate that is in him. Our substi-
tute Is to ask him to accept more
hate. Further, hate, in the breast
Of child, In the breast of anyone
for that matter, produces fear, and
fear produces anxiety. To put Il
another way, IL our children must
take in more hate toward men and
women whom they do not know
and add IL to the hostility they al
ready have, we have prOdU eel in
the mind of child confusion and
anxiety.
The child Is never certain then
when the hatred of adults will be
turned upon him. Therefore, in Or
der to protect himself against all
this hate he Is being taught. the
child becomes aggressive tsNvard
his own parents. This aggressive
ness Is expressed in drinking par
ties, bobby-socks explosions. and
nOn-con'ormity to the standards of
what most people call decent be-
haviOr.
1t seems that it is time now that
We in America sense the fact that
our children are in a state of con-
fusion that must be dealt with in
the terms Of that confusion. and
not in the terms Of some imaginary
difficulty. Such as, saying that our
children do not have ideals, they
do not have moral stamina, and
that the parents are 10 blame. To
try to understand what is happen
ing to our children in America in
such terms is nothing but dodg-
ing process at that, on the part Of
responsible people.
War stuns people. II creates spir-
itual confusion. Ii dc3j not leave
time to nurture the small growth
Of love. Therefore, we must see
our children as the victims of
campaign to make them hate. We
must see this hate campaign ex-
panding itself into fear and an
xiety. At the same time, we must
understand that our children are
trying to escape from this very
unpleasant and unreal situation.
An illustration will serve this
point. a Detroit school teacher
asked her class TO reproduce the
picture Of a dog which she had
drawn on the blackboard.
One very sensitive youngster
drew the dog. and when he came
to put on the dogs tail. he clutched
his pencil very tightly and began
TO run his pencil around drawing
circles all around the dog. The
teacher asked the youngster why
he was doing that. The youngster
replied. Teacher, l am trying TO
unwind myself on the inside. lam
so tight on the inside" This young
ster was seven years old.
We are winding our children so
tightly on the inside with hate,
fear and anxiety. II parents. edu-
Gators, religious people and our So
ciety generally do not understand
what is happening to our children
as a result Of war. our conferences
will be nothing more than worn,
mpanin pless talk