OUR CHILDREN
Patri, Angelo
Our Children By Angelo Patri WHOSE fault is it when an adolescent drinks to excess in his effort to be grown up? When he takes what does not belong to him in his effort to live in a grownup's...
...Duty to oneself, to the family, to others, must be taught until it is ingrained...
...Give him work, responsibility, and supervision that is understanding but firm...
...Nobody does anything to help the schools to help the parents to help the boys and girls in need of this training...
...These boys and girls who give us all so much trouble did not arrive in full growth of error over night...
...Let him accept the consequences of his mistakes as far as is safe and keep pushing him to shoulder responsibility for his behavior...
...When he runs away from a job he finds himself unfiitted for...
...What is one to do with an adolescent gone wrong...
...And be patient, for if we had done our duty by him early enough he would not new need such instruction...
...They save nobody...
...Experiences applied to living are what help, and these children's experiences are not the sort that help them...
...Sixteen, 17, 18 years of living conditioned them to make these mistakes...
...When he leaves home and hides from the evidences of his failure...
...Over and over the school makes endless reports about the conditions and the needs for the care and training of these children and over and over again these reports are filed and the dust gathers on them...
...The adolescent's training begins with the training of the infant...
...Their traits and tendencies were no secrets to teachers and parents through those years but little effort was made to mend them...
...Home is the place for that teaching and mother is the first and best teacher...
...It is hard to do that after years of mistakes but it can be done, painfully but surely, in time...
...Teach him...
...That point of helping someone else, of relieving others of his care, is highly important to his future behavior...
...Keep showing him his way and keep holding him to it...
...As he grows he should be taught first to help himself wherever possible, and to know that by doing so, he helps someone else...
...Books are supposed to be their salvation...
...When he takes what does not belong to him in his effort to live in a grownup's world without his resources...
Vol. 8 • November 1944 • No. 45
