A HAPPY CHRISTMAS DAY— and How to Make it So

Hutt News, Volume 3, Issue 29, 11 December 1930, Page 18

A HAPPY CHRISTMAS DAY— and How to Make it So

them away again

Please remember, parents of small •boys and girls, that St. Nicholas is the patron saint of the children. Christmas Day should be an event to look back upon through the years. Wot a day merely of roast turkey and plum pudding—and sickness afterwards—but one of healthy enjoyment. Mr Chesterton has remarked that a stomach full of raspberry-jam is not a 'happy stomach. That is a point that is -worth remenitKsring in connection with tihe child and Christmas.

i This should be a season not of extra indulgence, but of real joyf ulness, plan- | nod carefully, with tie psychology of the child taken fully into account. i := 'Some fond parents give their children I freedom to do anything they like on Christmas Day, with lie rather feelble Id«a that it is cruel to deny them anything on such a festive occasion. But kindly discipline must be maintained then as at any other time. Christmas Day, for instance, should not 1)C allowed to begin too early. I know one small child who made a riile of waking up on Christmas morning at al>out four o'clock, with the result that by.-breakfast-time: she was exhausted and peovish. It is quite a good plan to throw' out a hint that if presents axe even peeped at before seven o 'clock Father Christmas \vill most likely take

Talking of Father Christmas, many mothers have consulted me as to the wisdom of letting- children believe in him. Parents -who aie very anxious tlial their little- ohee should, grow up trutlifyil wonder if it can possibly be right to feed their minds on, fable. It is our opinion that normal children do distinguish1 quite easily- between truth, aiid make believe. Children trained in homes of intgrity will grow uj> truthful in essentials, but all healthy c}ti*«;i >t lovt romancing, and there' is really no reason why we should not sometimes' Tomanee with, them Afc Alice Meynell says, all normal children love p».etei>ce 7 not beeatise they belltve i* but'because "it makes a fraudulent appeal to their excellent good s*»nse'"' Mr Beftrand Eussell in his recent book "On Education" makes tih? s&me point. In witnessing * 'Hamlet,*' he remarks, "We do not think of the story as true, but we should be annoyed nevertheless-with a man who wai. constantly at pains to tell us it was untrue. '* The fact is, both grown ups and children, each in their own way, like to retire occasionally from the prosaic world of every^day and so Jnng a& they do not do so too often nothing jut good can accrue. 'C3jrit'tT[ias Day, then, should be slr-roiiH-ied by" a pleasantly fairy-tS'le^ish atmosprjprt. Do you know the story of St. Nicholas and how he started the fashion of giving Christmas; presents? Hi? was passing by the house of a eottahi impoverished nobleman one ev«>ning when he heaTd sounds of lanient. On stopping to listen, he discovers! ihat the tSiree daughters of the house vrere concerned as to their fu;ture. Either they must have a dowry each so' that they might marry /rich1 hu3bantls, or they must be sold as slaves. It was the kindly Nicholas who sol -'^l th«"i.r problem by throwing thTee bl'»i"<s of gold—o^e for each maidendon .1 t"be chimney. And' that is whyti tMs day the chimney is old Father Cbristm&s'a recognised route to the nTiTsery. This is a tale that could .'be elaborated by an ingenious mother, and it is Ufo£al for filling in one of the quiet hvnrs on Christmas Day. For there shoul 1 be quiet hours. This is a seeon J "rule to remember, if you would ' senl your small people to bed at the end of the day happy and content. Let quiet pleasures alternate with noisy bnes.--^Mu'riel ■ WrineTi, in the*' Home" Magazine.