OUR CHILDREN
Patri, Angelo
Our Children =Bv Anselo Patrl= ONE of the most frequent complaints that parents make is that of ingratitude shown by their adolescent children. "We have made all kinds of sacrifice for him. We...
...The Service Of Affection' Children are born into their homes where food, clothes, affection, and care are matters of course...
...They accept them that way...
...The way to win a child's affection is to teach him to serve those he loves and who love him...
...father needs his newspaper...
...The more he can do for those he loves t\\e happier he is, and the more appreciative of his efforts they are, the more grateful he is...
...Love begets gratitude, for love is the deepest craving human beings know...
...He simply doesn't know it...
...Once they know they have it in full measure, they are reverently grateful...
...It is our duty to teach them to appreciate the service of affection, not by pointing out how we sacrifice ourselves for their good, but by showing them how to serve in their turn those who are in need of service...
...We have paid for extra lessons for him, sent him to camp when we stayed all Summer in the hot city, working hard...
...We are never grateful for fresh air and clear sky and sunshine and water until, one day, we miss them, miss them long enough to suffer their loss...
...Grandpa needs his stick...
...Keep telling him how much has been done for him, suffered for him, paid for him...
...Go softly...
...Keep that up long ensugh and the child feels that he is a burden and a nuisance, that his presence is resented...
...Gratitude is an adult feeling that comes after much experience of deprivation...
...grandma needs her shawl...
...After one has been lost on a mountain without water he is grateful for water ever afterward...
...mother needs help...
...Love Begets Gratitude One of the best ways to prevent this feeling's birth in a child's heart is to demand it of him...
...We have gone without sleep, without rest, without things we needed, to make him comfortable and keep him healthy...
...Never a word of thanks or appreciation...
...No gratitude...
...If children render service where it is needed, and are shown gratitude and appreciation in return, the experience breeds an understanding in their hearts that in years to come will be gratitude...
...Everything we could do we have done...
...One cannot be grateful for what is commonplace in his life, until experience proves its value to him...
...There is no other way...
Vol. 8 • August 1944 • No. 33
