PSYCHOLOGY OF CHILD

Taranaki Daily News, 20 July 1935, Page 5

PSYCHOLOGY OF CHILD

THE CAUSES OF STEALING SELF-INDULGENCE, RESENTMENT. EFFECTS OF BEING “BORED STIFF.” ADDRESS BY MR. J. H. LEDGERWOOD '. . . . J . Hints on child psychology, particularly in relation to self-indulgence, resentment and boredom, three factors in causing stealing, were given by Mr. J. H. Ledgerwood yesterday afternoon to .30 members of the Y.W.C.A. Young Women’s Club. Mrs. H. Masters presided and welcomed two new members. Hostesses were Mes-. dames E. P. Croll, W. Dalrymple, E. V. Tingey, R. G. May and R. Lealand. Mrs. V. Parkinson accompanying, Mrs. Bulmer sing two songs. It used to be said that the child, the wife and the walnut tree, the more you beat them the better they be, began Mr. Ledgerwood. But people now had outlived that belief and modem child psychology taught them to seek the causes of behaviour. In doing so it had always to be considered that the child was a unique personality. Even though there might be 700,000,000 people in the world each case could be treated only in perspective and on its. pwn merits. Stealing occurred in every household, even in the best, but the law. regarded it with such severity that children came to regard it with a certain amount of fear. When children stole people frequently imagined they must have a “kink.” That was not true; the action generally arose from perfectly natural causes Moreover, in child psychology even kinks could be removed if treated sufficiently early. If adults did not credit children who stole with kinks they dismissed them as bad—an attitude even worse. Before judging a child for stealing one should try to understand the springs of conduct. Most children nowadays were unaffected by the ■ prospect of punishment for their misdeeds, and the modem boy would give his parents “the raspberry” if they threatened him. Some throw up a devil-may-care attitude which was often taken all too seriously. Generally it hid a sense of fear for having done wrong. Parents ought to remember that child-, ren’s wrong-doing was often the line of least resistance. A boy might play truant simply because he found it much easier to go round the comer to play rather than to work at school. CAUSES OF STEALING. What were the causes of stealing? asked Mr. Ledgerwood. Frequently it could be attributed to self-indulgence. ■ The psychologist John Dewey had described a girl who, while yet a child, was almost a kleptomaniac, and he had traced it to the fact that as a baby sne had been allowed milk all through the day and at any time of the night. She had never been denied and could get anything she wanted round the house. When she was thwarted she resorted to theft. Parents might not consider themselves to blame for this case, said the speaker, but in hard fact they were directly a factor in causing it. , Another case of John Dewey illustrated the attitude of an “eldest boy.” Parents were in the habit of giving the eldest child the largest share of food or luxuries, simply because he was the. biggest The child began to think it was its moral right to have the largest share and was ready to take it for itself. Dewey’s third case was perhaps the most casual. Parents often gave a false ’ value to’‘conditions in their home by assisting children to have the same advantages as those of much, richer parents than -themselves. This was the attitude of “If Johnny Smith has that you must , have it too.”) . The most important trait leading to stealing was resentment, which had been, quoted as the primary cause. A case cited was that of a small boy who disliked his master. He could not. physically retaliate so he stole the master s watch.- Children with deformities or physical disabilities, because they were treated as having deformities, often found the only outlet for their resentment in stealing. Favouritism shown outside the family was another factor to •bq considered. It might not occur to parents, but aunts and such relatives were sometimes the cause of many maladjustments in families. Boys in excellent homes had been treated indulgently by outside people, arid, that had resulted in theft among other members who were envious of the extra luxuries obtained. INFERIOR INTELLIGENCE.

Resentment might arise, too, out of inferior intelligence. Those unfortunate members of a family who through no fault of their own had inferior intelligence became the butt for adverse comparison on the part of their parents, the very people who should most know bet—. ter. The practice of saying “Look a* Tommy, top of his and you are 32nd” was disastrous. So also was an attitude adopted by the parents which might cause a boy or girl to feel neglected If they doubted their parents’ love they would often find satisfaction in stealing. . . ■ ■ “Stealing serves the little criminal too often with a sense of power,” said Mr. Ledgerwood. Boys had been known to take things so that they could go out to show their fellows, in action,, that they could exercise authority, he continued. It was astonishing what power a bag of sweets could give. None of these factors, insisted Mr. Ledgerwood, exonerated parents. Sometimes children learned to steal by going on to trams and lying to conductors about their age. That they did because their parents did it. In such small things parents colud set an example of unworthiness to their children. . ; Mr. Ledgerwood then dealt with the vexed question of giving weekly pocket money and the manner of 'giving it If children were handed shillings without understanding that the money had been worked for it was wrong and would lead later to a lack of moral values and of moral responsibilities. They must not be allowed to think money streamed from an inexhaustible source. , The third thing that contributed to theft was boredom. In those cities where there were slum areas and very little garden space children became unutterably bored. They began to hate their homes and to hate their parents, only because they were "bored stiff. Any little excitement like jumping over a fence to steal something that was not theirs relieved the monotony. Moreover, it was not only hi slum homes, but in the nurseries crowded with, toys that child-* ren were bored. In dealing with child stealing, concluded Mr. Ledgerwood, it had always to be remembered -that' self-indulgence, resentment and boredoom were powerful impulses upon which the children were probably acting. “Where there is theft and dishonesty and impurity it is ver? largely not because the home itself w wrong but because the under which we live is diseased."