Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 177, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 July 1916 — Rule By Fear. [ARTICLE]

Rule By Fear.

"One of the tragic injustices of which a great multitude of parents are guilty even in this age, is the bending of children to their will through the power of fear. There is a large class of parents who are positively brutal with theirs little ones. Instead of using reason with a child, instead of being self-controlled and patient (as a gardener of fine plants must be) they plant dread in the plastic mind, and though they may not know it, these nervous shocks in early life account for many a mental wreck in later years.” So writes John Nicholas Bessel in The Mother’s Magazine Continuing he declares: "A child quickly comes to understand reason, If reason is applied. He is keenly receptive to truths, and to right ways of doing things. He deserves to have mysteries explained to him. He is entitled to legitimate reasons when he is told that he must not do certain things. It is unfair to insist that he must not commit some act solely ‘because papa tells you not to.’ "The child should be taught not to be afraid. He should be given a chance to learn what the darkness means, and to learn that there is little to fear in the dark. Ghosts stories have worked irreparable harm to children for many generations."