OUR CHILDREN

Patri, Angelo

Our Children :By Angelo Patri "THERE. As usual. If I've told that boy once I've told him fifty times this week to come directly home from school. He's late again." "Has he been coming home late...

...His mother might have begun by giving him a party to a few chosen friends, a spread, then dismissal, then the chore...
...The time set for the party is the important item...
...And here we are...
...In order for the new command to hold its head above the tide it would have to be stronger than the old habit, fresher than the new experience...
...Has he been coming home late often...
...As long as he didn't get into mischief, and it isn't that, it didn't matter...
...He looks at everything on the way, talks to everybody who'll listen, visits with the grocer and the gas station men, just saunters along as if time had no meaning...
...But don't expect an order to accomplish what takes time, intelligence, application, and industry to do...
...Always since he went to school...
...And just lately you began trying to make him come in early...
...Now he is older and there are errands and chores he must do so on Monday I told him to come directly home and begin his chores...
...Allow No Slip Then follow that up by plan of action which allows no slip...
...There is an art in rearing children and the artists are few...
...Make the beginning dramatic so that it leaves a strong memory of pleasure behind it...
...Keep edging him into the schedule, holding him there as pleasantly as possible until the program has some holding power of its own...
...It must be the period chosen for the boy's return from school everyday...
...This boy whose habits of dalliance had to be broken needed a good start...
...May their number increase...
...A change in routine habits is not soon nor easily made...
...Then his mother should make a point of either meeting him most casually, or have someone else do so, and walk home with him...
...One cannot just say, "Tomorrow you change your routine and do this instead," and have it register...
...It didn't matter at first...
...When it fails to do so they are angry at the child's disobedience and disregard of themselves, forgetting the time and distance between that command and the child at the time of the expected response...
...The first step in a new habit should be that sort, dramatic and pleasant and of lasting memory...
...The Artists Are Few Some people believe that a command ought to be enough to impress a child with the seriousness of any situation and win his response...
...When it has to be done one must think a little about it and plan to give it a great push at the start...

Vol. 7 • November 1943 • No. 46


 
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