Temptation To Children

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31771, 30 August 1968, Page 10

Temptation To Children

Sir,—l was surprised to read “Be Fair's” agitation about confectionery being a temptation to children. Surely her children should be able to take a firm “No” as an answer when they pick up and determinedly want something. As a mother of two tots, I am not a stern diciplinarian but I do stand firm on several rules, one of which is not to touch while in a shop. If they do, they get a sound slap on the hand and they understand, even at the tender ages of two years and 10 months. The responsibility of avoiding “Be Fair’s” complaint lies not with the shopkeepers but with the parents as part of the job of rearing their children. —Yours, etc.,

PAPER FAN. August 29, 1968 Sir, —We are all, I think, familiar with the type of tiresome infant described by “Be Fair," and the supermarkets must regard them as greater nuisances than the grocers and greengrocers in any shopping centre. If your correspondent has had to pay for the depredations of her young on the sweet counter I recommend that she follows a more sophisticated line in bringing them up. When my daughter was small I used to say to her as often as necessary when shopping, “don’t touch,” until that elementary principle of common honesty sank in. It is not the duty of shopkeepers to avoid putting “temptation” in anyone’s way. It is the duty of responsible adults to bring up their children to resist it. The former can then sign themselves, as I now do. . . .—Yours, etc., B. SENSIBLE.

Sir,—l, too, feel very strongly about' sweets being displayed on very low counters. A number of these unwrapped sweets are in uncovered boxes and one only has to watch for a few moments to see nearly every child who comes along run its grubby little fingers through these sweets and play with them. Not only is it very unhygienic, it is also an early lesson in shop-lifting; and how can any mother concentrate on her order while trying to keep an eye on little ones? My complaints to a grocer about this problem were given a sympathetic hearing, but nothing has been

done about it. so the remedy seems to be to take one’s custom and children elsewhere. —Yours, etc., FLIES ALSO. August 28, 1968.