FEAR IN CHILDREN

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 78, 1 April 1924, Page 9

FEAR IN CHILDREN

MISTAKES BY "SPAETAN". PARENTS.

Speaking on "The place of fear in thd psychology of the child" at a meeting of Uie Parents' National Educational Union recently, according to the "Manchester: Guardian," Dr. 11. Crichton Miller said there were a great many Spartan parents who believed there was immense virtue in drilling a child into sleeping in the dark and with tke door shut. It was no use trying to battle against fear of that sort.' j "Don t grudge a child a night-light or lan open door or a bell at its hand," he added, "because you are not by grudging those things going to form character. You are. simply being unsympathetic and unimaginative and expecting the. child to throw oft' the young animal terror of the unknown." Dr. Miller also condemned those parents who always put off.their children's' questions by telling them to wail, till they grew up. This, he said, led to the' "Peter Pan reaction," an inordinatae fear of what adult lifn was going to mean. There were a 'great many Peter Pans who had nominally grown up, but had not grown up emotionally simply because they refused to accept responsibilities. He declared that one of the most I«i> manent hindrances to the Christian religion was the constant use of the expression "i'ear-God.". „In. .our .-.current language the original meaning of the verb had been entirely distorted, and the expression was apt to make the child fear God-.literally.. It was . astounding the amount of "theological fear" that somehow or other got into the minds of children brought up by the most godly and well-intentioned parents.