Children “Spontaneous And Liberated” Today

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29843, 8 June 1962, Page 2

Children “Spontaneous And Liberated” Today

[From Our Own Reporter] TIMARU, June 7. “We get rather a distorted picture of young persons because newspapers are filled with accounts of children who have run off the rails and not responded to freer upbringing,” said the newly-elected president of the South Canterbury Council for Adult Education (Mrs J. E. Mclver) in a discussion on teen-age behaviour at a women’s forum today. Mrs Mclver said she believed in young people and their work, and was confident that they would be of great value to the community in their adult life. Changes in the education system and ideas of parents on the upbringing of children had produced “spontaneous” children, far more poised and liberated from a great deal of the fears experienced by their elders —fear of grown-ups, and fear of expressing their opinions, she added.

A more liberal education system had made a tremendous improvement in the attitude of the majority of children. Economically they had been assisted and had become self-reliant, and not so much under the thumb of their parents. Mrs Mclver said she did not like the term “juvenile delinquecy.” It was an expression used very loosely to cover any kind of behaviour in young persons to which people objected. “More exactly we should use it as a term to indicate anti-social behaviour,” she said. Judging by statistics there was more undesirable behaviour today than there used to be. However, there had always been a delinquent section in the community. “In other ages we talked about larrikins, hooligans, ne'er-do-wells, wastrels, and black sheep. Now we call them juvenile delinquents: the older terms were better. Larrikins were boys who stood around street corners, whistled at girls, and did not do their homework: hooligans were destroyers of property. and a certain percentage ended up in Borstal; black sheep were a source of disgrace and annoyance to their families—the remittance men—and the wastrel frittered away his assets and his time—a worry to everyone,” Mrs Mclver said. Nature and Nurture

Anti-social behaviour stemmed from nature and nurture, and it was the children born with a normal level of intelligence with which she was concerned because she felt something was wrong with their nurture, Mrs McIver added. "What has acelerated this type of behaviour among normal youngsters in recent years? There are four influencing factors—the home, the school, the church, and the community at large. The home is different from what it was 30 to 40 years ago. My feeling is that it is a worse place, that homes do not provide, that they are not the centre for young people that they used to be,” Mrs McIver said. Change in Housing

This was partly due to the change in the type of housing. In the roomy, old family homes there was always a place for children to be apart from their parents. In the modern homes, where there was little space, parents and their children were practically sitting on each other's laps, Mrs Mclver added.

Today it cost money to • keep children interested, i which meant that there was J more economic necessity for , mothers to go out to work. ; A big change came in the ' home during the war, when home life was disrupted, particularly in America, Britain ‘ and the Continent, and the pattern had never reverted. "The children come home,

and the mother is not there: they do not even bother to ; come home. I always remember a feeling of desola- , tion when I came home and mother was out —and • many children come home to that every day,” she said. j The mother was the pivot of the home, and while she , believed in outside interests, she felt that women should

; leave or restrict them until • their children were old enough not to suffer by them ; Mrs Mclver said. Effect of War

The war had far-reaching effects on young children. They had drifted and wandered all over Europe, fight- ; ing to survive as best they 1 could, and this must have < had a big effect on the outJ look of yoiuh. New Zea- > land could not be separated • from influences overseas. The system of education was wonderful for a good child backed up by a good home but it did not benefit the child who had not much ' of an example in his own

home because authoritarian teaching had been discarded. "Once upon a time the child would have had the precepts of his teacher to guide him. He was exposed to good ideas; but there is not much of that done today in the school," said Mrs Mclver.

She did not subscribe to the view that a child should be left to grow up a little pagan until he was 21, when he would make his own decisions, but she did not think children should be “hounded” to church twice a day. “Rebellious, Frustrated”

“When we start to look ait the juvenile delinquency problem we should study adult delinquency, as the two are closely linked,” she said. She described nuclear tests

as the “most irresponsible action ever.” People had lost confidence in humanity, and children could not have the same faith in the grown-up world, which led to a feeling of insecurity.

This insecurity caused rebellion and frustration. Mrs Mclver said. There were not nearly enough dangerous outlets especially for boys. “They cannot run away to sea for fear of the Inland Revenue Department. In the days of the Empire they joined the army and let off their high spirits in beating up a few poor natives. There are not many challenges left for youngsters, few exciting and dangerous things to do. They become frustrated,” she said.