OUR HOME ENEMIES.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume II, Issue 594, 5 January 1916, Page 4

OUR HOME ENEMIES.

That some of the mothers of a nation should be the enemies of its sons, and, therefore, also of itself, is a dreadful thought. Enemies of the worst sort, too, because the most successful foes are always those who, with smiling faces, lurk unsuspected amongst those they injure; and also, in this instance, curiously enough, they are blissfully unconscious of the harm they are doing (says a writer in the Sydney "Daily Telegraph'') : Perhaps if those mothers who need to learn the lesson of good motherhood could be made to realise that by failing to exact obedience from their children, and by neglecting to teach them self-control they arc doing them a cruel wrong, thej' might start the great work of training. Are we not all too familiar with the children who rule their mothers with rods of iron? A 1 few days ago I was sitting in a train with a few minutes to wait. Opposite sat a woman with her small son, a child of about three years. The mother had a large, expensive-look-ing box of sweets on her lap. "I want another lolly, mum," said the boy. "You can't have any more now, darling," said the mother, "you've had too many. I'm dreadfully afraid you will be sick." "I will have another," declared the child, and again the mother refused. I thought "That child will have those sweets in less than ten ten minutes." Then I listened with interest to the verbal battle which followed. The boy was firm and persistent; the mother annoyed, but weak and : inclined to yield. Before the train left the station the young Australian had possession of the sweets and was stuffing himself with chocolates. If mothers could be prevailed upon to consider it a sacred duty to make their boys and girls obedient and to teach them from their early days to be useful and tidy, how different their own lives and their children's would be. Bringing children up in the right way is not a hard task if the training starts as soon as the little ones are old enough to understand. There is no need for constant nagging and correcting. As surely as a little dog quickly learns a trick, so surely will a little child learn to do without question what its mother tells it to do. But the mother must never fail; she must always do as she says —uuless she finds she has made a mistake —and she must always be fair. How often one sees a tired mother working hard while her little children read or play. And yet that mother owes those children, and also the future generation of her family, the knowledge of how to do things well. She should see to it that her little girls become good housewives; she should teach her boys to be helpful, and, above all, she should teach them to be good ami courteous to their sisters.