CONSCIENTIOUS PARENTS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 199, 23 July 1937, Page 8

CONSCIENTIOUS PARENTS.

A REAL CAREER

WELLINGTON, July 22. “Being a parent is a real career and a real profession,” said Mrs Boyd, wife of Dr William Boyd, in a New Education Fellowship Conference address to-day on “Parents and Children.” Mrs Boyd said a great deal of child studv had been done, and she thought the time had come for parent study. In the last 40 years there had been a great deal of change in the world, and a reorientation of ideas was necessary. So it was with the upbringing of children.

The job of being a parent was not something one was thrown into and struggled through. It could be summed up in tw'o parts—knowledge and understanding—although these two could not be taken apart. The job of being a parent was, in the main, a mother’s job. Of course, no ono in his right mind would suggest that the father should be ruled out. but the understanding and (special knowledge required seemed to lie the particular pursuit of the woman.

Three stages were predominant in the life of the child. The home exercised the most influence up to the age of five years, attendance at school and the making of friends influenced the child from tlia-t age to adolescence, and steadfast affection was most important during the adolescent stage. In the second stage the child’s mental growth was taking place, and it was in the initial stages of becoming an individual. Tn the last stage the adolescent’s emotional development was taking place, and it could only come to fruition by the steady glow of parental affection. The most important thing was for the parents to be willing to put all their knowledge and wisdom at the disposal of the near-adult.