TO MOTHERS.

White Ribbon, Volume 26, Issue 306, 18 December 1920, Page 7

TO MOTHERS.

(Contributed.)

In the present Hay it is a cheering outlook for the future to see the fuller attention that is being given to the right training of children, to tlx* recognition that the cuff, the blow, the bluster that crushes and frightens a child is passing. To the teacher who tries to govern his class by right methods, what a reward he receives in the ready response, the sparkling eye of the well managed child; how quickly he can distinguish between different children as to the methods followed at home. Home, ah! there is the nursery of the world. In a true home, where father and mother put their best efforts forth to train a child, the hard-worked teacher finds most hopeful pupils for there obedience, the desire to please, the courage to face difficulties are instilled from earliest days. Bribes of all sort to secure obedience are not used, but instead, the child’s love for mother works the charm; yes, but only if with tenderness, firmness also is present. To secure obedience by promises of sweets or a piece rf cake, or any other bribe, weakens, in fact is fatal to proper authority, and the child unconsciously, but surely, in its mental processes, is working out its little bargain, so much obedience for so much favour. Let mother especially aim consistently to win a child by letting it feel the pleasure of mother’s “Well done” to a little child by clapping of hands joyfully and a big smile; to tbo older child by “Well done, laddie, that will help you to be a good man.” “Well done, girlie, you are mother’s helper.’’ To secure best results a mother must put her thinking cap on, for children differ, and training must go on the lines to meet varied temperaments. Perseverance on right linos from mother is what ensures big harvests of love and happier children than where threats and whipping form the daily routine. A.13.H.