OUR CHILDREN
Patri, Angelo
Our Children By Angelo Patri= THERE must be undivided authority in rearing children. Father and mother must agree on what they stand for in the home and on what they want for the children. If...
...His attitudes toward commonplace matters of daily living ¦will get in his way and prevent him from being the useful happy citizen he should have been...
...I have dealt with many children through the years, and known many fathers and mothers and guardians...
...Family complications force other adult members of a family to take charge...
...His character will be weakened...
...This cannot be done unless they talk things over and decide amicably, wholeheartedly, on what is best...
...Relatives sometimes enter in...
...Problem Of Relatives Divided authority does not always concern parents alone...
...Parents Must Agree Fathers and mothers must agree right from the start upon the policy they intend to pursue and stick to it...
...They do best under good leadership and wise authority...
...Rarely, rarely indeed, have I known a child to suffer under the authority of his family but I have known many to fall into temptation and into evil ways for lack of it...
...If either one feels left out, or slighted, belittled in any way, there will be trouble with the children...
...If one says yes and another criticizes and sympathizes openly with a complaining child, complaining because he is being obliged to do his duty, that child will be spoiled...
...Far from it...
...That has happened...
...If an appeal can be carried from one to the other, and won, that makes an end of harmony in the household, and an end of trustful obedience on the part of the children...
...Children out of control are never happy...
...That will be perfectly satisfactory all around if father doesn't, all of a sudden, feel left out and assert himself at the very worst possible moment...
...They will play one off against the other and become, wayward, ill controlled, and miserable...
...When this happens there must be one person on whom responsibility rests and with the responsibility and authority to control and direct the children...
...They lose, too, the feeling of security in their parents that they need, indeed must have, to thrive well...
...If mother pushes father to one side, if father pooh-poohs mother, the children soon lose the feeling of strength and authority that good teamwork supplies...
...Because mothers are usually at home in charge of the children they are often the sole authority in the home...
...Children are quick to feel any difference of opinion and will between their parents and quick to take advantage of it...
...There must be somebody who can say, "You must" and prove himself able to enforce his command...
Vol. 8 • March 1944 • No. 10
