The Ownership of the Child.

White Ribbon, Volume 7, Issue 73, 1 June 1901, Page 5

The Ownership of the Child.

By Kate Austin

One of the popular fallacies now happily being exploded, is that of the ownership of the child by the parent. It is now gradually being conceded that the child belongs, first of all, tohimself. Even yet, however, many parents are loth to accept such an idea, but still cling to the old opinion that a child has no inherent rights This ancient theory is a relic from the days of patriarchial government, when the civil power was embodied in the father of the family, even unto the power of life and death. As the tribes of men increased this primitive form of government became inadequate, and the power of life and death passed from the hands of the father to the state tribunals; the child ceasing to he the subject of the father. But the idea of absolute ownership survives to this day. You could scarcely startle some parents more than by hinting that their children were not absolutely their own property, to be dealt with according to their own will. “It is my child,” they maintain, and from their standpoint nothing more is to be said.

Nevertheless, it is beginning to be dimly apprehended that no human being can be absolutely the property of another; that even the fact of generation cannot confer such a right. Lach individual is a sacred unit and has the inalienable right to stand for himself before his Creator, and no mortal possesses the right to defraud him of his individuality. Even the authority of the parent is only to be exercised for the benefit of the child. The government of the parent must be a limited monarchy, not an absolute one. He has literally no right to tyrannise over .1 child, simply for the gratification of the domineering instinct ; still less has he a right to make use of the child to further his own ends, at the expense of the child’s best good. Least of all has lie a right to take advantage of his greater strength against the chihl’s weakness, or make it the object on which to vent the spite decency forbids him to show towards his equals in age. Oh, the outrages of ignorant, thoughtless or unscrupulous parents against poor, helpless childhood. It need not be feared that these views would loosen the bonds of lawful parental authority. To the child the parent stands in the place of God, to interpret to it the Divine commands, and the child is to render the implicit obedience due the Divine Will. Once let a parent fully understand the sacredness of his position and all abuses of power will fall away. His authority is delegated from a Divine fountain, and is to he exercised only for the child’s good. Further than this he has no shadow of right to domineer over the youthful life. Human nature cannot stand the test of unlimited authority.— “ Union Signal.”