The frontiersman., 1963-06-27
lSi1oR 5s 1oi
To the Mothers of Palmer and the Matanuska Valley:

10 the Mothers of Palmer and the Matanuska Valley:
 Everyone who comes in con- tact with your child teaches him something. Whether it be good or bad, each of us tends to have an effect on, and to be affected by, others. Life is a constant state of radiation and absorption. To exist is to rad fate; to exist is to be the recip- tent of radiation. How your children react to the teachings of others depends on one thing. What does the h o m teach? Clearly, the home teaches mainly what the parents teach, whether you realize it or not. Therefore, the child's behavior patterns are attributable to parental influence.
 Good parents teach right eouSneSs. An outstanding ex- ample of this is tn e tribute paid to his mother by one of the greatest men of our coun- try, Abraham Lincoln. Though his mother died before he was ten, her teachings made deep and indelible mark on his character.
 Children follow the example of bad parents. too. Unfort- unately there are far too many examples of parents who teach their children wrong ideas and practices. Total b h avior teaches, and there are many instances in which less spec tacular but more subtle learn ing is inculcated by parental teaching. For instance, parent tells his child to be honest one day, the phone rings, and the child answers it and tells the father that someone is ask ing for him. Father does not want to be disturbed, so he says, Tell him I'm not in." Your child is to conclude from this that lie is acceptable un- der certain circumstances.
 But what happens later on, when that same child uses those same tactics? That little white lie" over the telephone taught your child's first lesson in crime, insignificant as it may have seemed at the time.
 Do you give your child an allowance, and do you know how it is spent? It is not t th e writer's intent that you should arrange an allowance for your child, and then demand that it be spent in a certain way. On the contrary, l would prefer that the child develop a sense of appreciation commensurate with whatever his economic situation may allow.
 But if you know that your child spent an allowance of $1 today, do you know what was actually purchased for tn t dollar? Do you love your child enough to take the time n d effort to balance the purchases with the amount spent? Or do you take it for granted that all that was brought home Wa s paid for?
 If you cannot rightly answer, you are not only neglecting your duties as parent, b u t neither do you love your child enough to take few moments each day to assure them of a happy normal life in their la ter years.
 Remember this: your child's life is patterned during h e first ten or 12 years. Statistics show that they follow 90 per cent of the patterns set fo r them during this period thru out their lives.
 Also, statistics show that just l5 minutes spent at the end of the day, sharing your prob lems with your children, a n d theirs with you, would develop the basic family ties of pa tience, love, and understand ing to withstand all a m y problems. For a period of 12 years, this amounts to a mere six weeks of your time, a n d the difference of whether you basically love your children or merely tolerate them.
 In one day last W e e k, Il items were stolen from the "Barbie Doll" display in the Thrifty Variety store, with a 4+ol ,,,I,,o of S26