THE EARLY-TO-BED FALLACY

Evening Post, Volume CIII, Issue 129, 3 June 1922, Page 14

THE EARLY-TO-BED FALLACY

The poets have misled us with- their fancies about light-hearted children. A child is'much more sober-minded than an adult, because he takes all things seriously. He never stands at ease with life,: but always to attention. Everything is so momentous in; his scheme .of things that the: can find no room' for lighter moments. . .• ,' One'of his vital beliefs is that each day, is: a lifetime. Grown-up people talk sadly of leaving their life work unfin-ished-::..'arid ...when that befalls, a.man, what regret can be more passionate? And yet we fail to appreciate the same noble passion in our children. When the awful voice proclaims "bedtime" it is as the crack of doom. No future life can , compensate : the child for having made a failure of this.

And'then he is much more alive, more energetic than a man. Waking time ia far. too_, short to give full play to bis capacities. He only craves to use them to the full; and you arrest him in full course by driving him to bed. The time for bed is when he feels sleepy, not when you think he ought to feel sleepy. He is quite logical, and you are merely unreasonable. The hypocritical pretence that "it is for his good" does not deceive him. How can 'it be good to waete precious and irrevocable time in doing the wrong thing? The naked truth is that he is sent to bed for the convenience of his e,lders. They wish to get down to their trashy novels and monotonous knitting, and mercenary bridge; and so they "butcher" his day to give themselves an extra hour's holiday., .

Of course, when he is actually tucked into bed he meets the situation squarely and goes to sleep at .once. Bed is designed for sleep, and the sooner he gets to sleep the sooner one will awake and begin to live once more. —G. Murray Wilson, in The Spectator. <