IN MOTHER’S PLACE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 304, 21 November 1935, Page 15

IN MOTHER’S PLACE.

TRAINING THE ELDER DAUGHTER. The mother of a largo family once confessed that the obsessing fear of her life was that of being taken away from her children while they still needed her care and guidance. It is a fear, doubtless, shared by countless other devoted mothers of families, both large and small. In this particular case the fear was turned to practical account, for the mother held that the eldest daughter should receive at her hands some kind of insight into the workings of the home, the methods adopted in the guidance of the younger children, and the study of their various temperaments. Then should the time ever arrive when the mother’s place must be filled, the girl could step into it prepared. Nothing could so strongly cement the bond between mother and daughter as this co-operation. It is sufficient for her that her mother take her into her confidence, discusses family matters with her, and generally instructs her in mothercraft. The majority of young girls will rise to an occasion of this kind with alacrity, for what girl in her teens does not love to share her mother’s work and interests, and, in some degree. assume her responsibilities? Actually, talks with the eldest daughter on domestic and family topics are often of extreme use to the mother herself. In discussing questions of individual temperaments among the younger folk, light is frequently shed for her on points which might have otherwise remained obscure.

Every girl is the richer for being instructed in the practical supervision of home-making. Later on, when the business of t wage-earning conies along, she may have no leisure to give to its study. The fact that she has absorbed it in her earlier days will be of tremendous value.