LAUGHING AT PARENTS.

Cromwell Argus, Volume LXI, Issue 3161, 4 May 1931, Page 2

LAUGHING AT PARENTS.

Children Are, in Many Ways, Much Cleverer Than We Are. The chief reason why children sometimes make fun of their parents is because their parents do not really understand them. They do not grasp the fact that for many years children live in a world of their own. Children are in many ways much cleverer than we are, because we are the creatures of habit, whereas they are free and have a wider outlook on life. We think that because we know more we are therefore wiser than our boys and girls. It does not follow. Bven in the first year of life the baby invents all sorts of ways of managing mother. In the case of the body, about which the child knows practically nothing, the average mother is splendid, and generally is able to deal with childish ailments perfectly. The devotion of the mother tc the sick child is all that can be desired.

If only parents knew as much about the mind of the child as they do about the body, our children would not be able to make so much tun of us. It is here that the superiority of the child comes in.

A boy said to his father, "Dad, what are ancestors?"

"Well, my son," replied the father, "I am one of your ancestors and your grandfather is another." "Then, dad, why do people brag about them?" said the boy. Another irreverent boy was at the Zoo, and, being much interested in the gorilla, said to his mother: "Oh, mother, isn't that gorilla's face like father's?"

"Hush, you naughty boy, you mustn't say such things," she replied. "But, mother," said the boy, "the gorilla cannot understand what I am saying." Because children make fun of their parents, it does not mean that they dislike them. Far from it It is an excellent sign, and shows that they are on very good terms with them. A boy's affection for his father would not allow others to make fun of him. Thus, at a nursery school two little boys were boasting of the position and virtues of their respective parents. "My father is a doctor," said one, "and so I can be ill for nothing."

"Well," said the other, not to be beaten, "my father is a clergyman. So that I can be good for nothing." A mother noticed that her little boy of three years of age sometimes did not appear to hear what she said to him. She was much distressed, as she feared he might be rather deaf. At last she couldn't bear it any longer, and asked him: "Don't you always hear when mummy speaks to you?" , "Yes," he said, "but I don't want to hear sometimes."

Frequently in this way a child -will pretend to be stupid when he has been naughty, in order to avoid punishment. A clever little boy, having heard grown-ups talking of drinking each other's health, took advantage of this to get some sweets from his mother when they went to see the father off by train. After an affectionate farewell, the boy, a four-year-old, suggested that his mother should buy him some chocolates so that "I may eat my daddy's health." $1 In the following story, told by\g child, it is highly probable that th? child's desire was to make fun of the father:

"I was going home. The 'bus was crowded, and people were standing up. Among those were several elderly ladies, and a little boy, who was evidently taught to be polite/jumped up and offered one of these his seat. "As he was not tall enough to reach the strap, his father, who was with him, took him on his knee. "Some time after this, a young lady stepped into the 'bus. Partly through habit, and partly through want of thought, the little boy jumped up and said, 'Madam, please take my seat* The people in the 'bus laughed, and the father, to hide his embarrasment, boxed the boy's ears." It is very significant that, whereas the children frequently make fun of father, they rarely make mother the butt of their jokes.