ABOUT CHILDREN.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 170, 19 July 1924, Page 22

ABOUT CHILDREN.

DEALING WITH IMMATURE MINDS. (G. EDITH BURTON.) It is well to try always to make sure that a child knows quite well what you mean when you are talking to him. Children get tiie queerest impressions ot things: very often by reason of the careless way in which .ome people speak. Here is a sample of what two little children made of a simple hymn they had at Sunday school. The teacher read a vei-fC then the children sang it. *\A'!k-ii they got home one day a visitor questioned tlic-m about what tiii-y had been singing. Tiie little boy said: "Oil, we had that nice hymn about ihe grandstand. Do you think it was races or football, uncle, they were having?" Uncle, who was making the inquiries, was very mystified. "What hymn does Ralph mean, dear," he asked bis little niece. "Oh.'' said she, "isn't lie silly? Ho calls it the grandstand one—it isn't a grandstand—it's just 'standing.'. You know, uncle, 'Standing by a lVrposestrue.' What is a 'purposestrue,' uncle! I've asked everyone, und they say there isn't any 'purposestrue.'" Eventually their elders found that the verse ran: "-Standing by a purpose true, heeding God's command." It is never sufficient to tell a child Mich a thing is wrung —you must tell him why it is wrong, and explain it fully. An old-time formula was: "Hod will be very angry with you."' How much more effective t • explain just why the thing is wrong, adding that, "God who loves you so much will be so sad." I.ittlc hearts are \crv generous and easily moved, and this appeal touches them. A child \v;ts told once, in tin- severe tones in which her religion was generally drilled into her, that she must on no account have her bath that night. (She bad a cold, but that was not explained to her as the reason.; She loved her steaming tub,

and while her monitress was out, she had her bath. In the middle of the night she awoke screaming: "Tell God I'm sorry I had a bath. Tell Him I'll never have a bath again when He doesn't want mc to." When at length she was quite awake and pacified, she explained that she thought it was God who did not approve of her bath that night, because Miss H. had said it in a "God-will-be-angry way." In these too-enlightened days, when we are in danger of a deluge of psychology, it may seem superfluous to mention the inner mind of the child; yet there are hundreds of children suffering acute mental torture because of half revelations. The quaint little things children say are fairly good indexes to the logical working of little minds. A little boy of seven, on being shown his new baby sister, pronounced the little ears "just Bke dried apricots"; then he hurried off to the kitchen. "Cook six eggs for breakfast to-morrow, Ellen, the baby will want one, you know." A little three-year-old girl wa3 present for the first time when a wellknown bishop was visiting her mother. At lunch her mother said: "Tell father who came to see us this morning." After a thoughtful little pause the little one answered: "It was mother's Lord that came; mother did say all the time, 'My Lord.' " Another little boy, who was very unwilling to kiss a lady good-bye, was taken severely to task by his father. "Why wouldn't you kiss dear old Mrs. M. who has been so kind to you?" "I hadn't any made, papa," was the answer. A quaint child I knew quite thought she was going to marry the butcher. "When you come to see mc, mama, I'll make such a fuss of you," she said. "Will you, darling?" "Yes, I'll give you fowl for your steak." The heart and the mind of a little child—how beautiful—how wonderful! Oh, parents and guardians, deal gently, deal wisely with them both. Felt pads on chair legs or any part of furniture that rests on the floor is a great saving of noises and scratches in a sick room; besides furniture so protected can be easUy moved about. Cut pieces of felt to fit, spread with glue, also the place to be covered and press the pad in place. The weight of the furniture makes it very firm. Any pieces of old felt hats will answer the purpose.