CHILDREN'S INSTINCT OF FEAR
A wise parent or teacher did not play on a child's instinct of fear, said Mr H. F. M'Clune, Miramar South School headmaster, in an address at the Miramar kindergarten annual meeting. A test he had conducted on children and older persons showed the children to fear darkness and wild animals. The older people, particularly girls, feared most small things, like spiders and mice. Many persons did not realise the hours of suffering children went through because of thfi instinct of fear, said Mr M'Clune. Miss M. Strange-Mure, director of the Miramar Public Kindergarten, stressed the care necessary in choosing stories for children which would not cause fear at night. "Very often stories that are enjoyed in the daytime become terrifying at night," she said. Mr M'Clune "mentioned as an instance of this the story of Little Red Hiding Hood. In this, he said, it was far better for children that the part relating to the wolf eating " grandmother" be left out.
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Bibliographic details
Otago Daily Times, Issue 22907, 15 June 1936, Page 5
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166CHILDREN'S INSTINCT OF FEAR Otago Daily Times, Issue 22907, 15 June 1936, Page 5
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