OUR CHILDREN
Patri, Angelo
Our Children By Angelo Partri ONE OF THE commonest mistakes mothers make in rearing little children is their way of saying, "Come, be good; eat this for mother." "Take your medicine. For mother."...
...They eat only for themselves...
...Children are born selfish...
...The sooner the better...
...You won't give me any more sugar on my cereal so I won't tidy my room for you...
...They know nothing about serving other people...
...Children must eat, they sometimes must take medicine, sometimes they must bear discomfort...
...I haven't gone into your room...
...The voice of self is louder than any other...
...Very well...
...He is not eating for anybody but himself, not is he taking medicine for anybody's health but his own...
...All right...
...Better Than Pleading Teach children that they eat for themselves...
...They eat to grow, they eat for strength, they eat for their good looks...
...The sooner he learns that the better for him...
...Pleading with them to think about other people, to act for another's good, or even comfort is almost without results...
...They think in terms of themselves and they act for themselves...
...Nature sets in them the instinct for self preservation...
...Altruism comes later, with instruction, and example, and experience...
...It is useless to ask them to endure or serve or do anything but accept the inevitable without complaint...
...I'm going out to play and I can't find my things...
...He left it for three days straight...
...A group of boys waited at the gate...
...They must be there," said his mother...
...He scrambled about for a minute and then called, "Mom, know where my sneakers are, and my sweater...
...One boy said to his mother one morning...
...You tidy your room for yourself, not for me," said his mother calmly...
...He went off to school and left his room in disorder and bis mother allowed it to remain so...
...If mother should say, "You don't want this cereal...
...He wept...
...Rover does," and give it to Rover who will devour it with a show of delight, she will do more to make the young person want to eat his cereal than if she pleaded and coaxed for hours...
...The fourth day in the afternoon he came rushing into the house and up the stairs...
...Altruism Comes Later "You've had enough sugar...
...Then he tidied his room...
...In the end they have to do so...
...For the span of childhood the strongest appeal is to self...
...The team went along without him...
Vol. 7 • November 1943 • No. 47
