ARE MODERN CHILDREN SELFISH.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20800, 20 August 1929, Page 14

ARE MODERN CHILDREN SELFISH.

t| ,c . days of large families many of the Christian virtues were learnt and practised at an early age. “You must give it up to your baby brother ” taught generosity, and before the baby had learnt selfishness he in turn had to practise generosity towards yet a younger child. Nowadays the only child is in much danger of becoming an egoist. The give-and-take of the nursery world can never be learnt elsewhere, . For this reason a - greator responsibility is laid on the modern mother, and many a mother does not realise what an enormous she possesses over her child. The child’s desire for power, for self-assertion, is frequently satisfied by the more repetition of “ No, no,” and the pitting of his will against hers. He is trying to draw her attention to his actions, and often a judicious neglect works wonders. Attention must certainly be paid to his needs and desires, but not to an excessive degree. The child must not gain the idea that he is in any way out of the ordinary, but rather encouraged to attempt greater things than he has already done. Absorption in self is natural to childhood, ami thought for others only comes gradually. . Self-assertion is an instinct, and all instincts lead through feeling and emotion to action. The child must not be blamed for his inherited instinct, but led by his environment to modify it in relation to others.