Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 283, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 November 1916 — TRAINING TODAY'S BOYS AND GIRLS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

TRAINING TODAY'S BOYS AND GIRLS

Trivial Matters Must Not Be Given Undue Importance. WHAT ARE THE ESSENTIALS? That is the Question the Young Mother Must Endeavor to Answer In Her Dally Dealings With the Children, -c By SIDONIE M. GRUENBERG. Grandmother was on a visit. Naturally, she noticed a great deal about her daughter’s way of managing an establishment. She noticed, among other things, that the sandwiches for little Edith’s school lunch were put up by the cook. It reminded her of the days when she had to prepare school lunches for five children. So It happened that one afternoon they were discussing sandwiches. “I sometimes wonder,” said grandmother, “how you can intrust the making of Edith’s lunch to the cook. When you were children I put up the lunches myself, and for a long time there were five of you to do It for.” “Yes, mother,” said the daughter, “I remember very well how fine those sandwiches tasted that you used to make for us. And the other children envied us, too. It was certainly lovely of you to put so much devotion and care Into the dally lunches for us.” And she relapsed Into the mood appropriate for reminiscence. But grandmother’s questioh had not been answered, so she came back to the cook. “R would be ever so much nicer for Edith if you put up her lunches yourself,” she reflected. “Well, mother, if the younger children did not need so much of my time In the morning perhaps I would do It myself. I’d like very much to do It. But I have to let Marla either do that or look after the other children.” “But,” persisted Grandmother, “what would you do if you could not afford to keep any help? I had. no one to help me when you went to school.” “If I could not afford to' have help I would have to choose between using the little time I have with the children before Edith goes off to school for making sandwiches and using it for doing the other things that call for my attention now. I think that probably I would prepare the lunches In the evening, and depend upon paraffin paper and the refrigerator to keep them In proper condition until the next day.” “Of course, I could have done the same thing," continued grandmother, “but I preferred to make the sandwitches with my own hands and to

have them fresh for you in the morning.” Perhaps there was a faint suggestion of reproach in her tone. She certainly was not convinced that her granddaughter was being as well cared for as her daughter had been. But the daughter made one more attempt. “I remember very well,” she said, “how we enjoyed those sandwiches that you used to make for us. But I also seem to remember that you were so rushed every morning when you were seeing us off to school that we left you in anything but a cheerful mood. You put your love Into the lunches, but It got on your nerves. We might have thrived at least as well on less sentiment in the sandwiches, and we might have had a little more of your attention to the things that interested us at the time perhaps as much as did the lunches.” In connection with our dealings with the children every detail that needs attention calls upon us to answer the question, “W T hat are the essentials?” But we do not often stop long enough to answer. If we did, the whole tone of the day’s work would probably be different With most of us certain features of our customs and surroundings stand out so prominently that they force us to overlook matters that are really more important A young mother who had some difficulty in getting suitable help during the illness of her first baby magnified her troubles by insisting upon all the routine of the household being continued the same as it had been before the baby came. She could not get sufficient help to relieve her entirely of the care of the baby, yet she laid as much emphasis upon the individual doilies at the table ond upon other fixings and frills as she did upon the things essential to th- health of the child. With her limited resources she had to choose between the child and the furbelows — and shl had not learned to choose. Every one of us has to manage with limited resources. We have only so much phy> ical strength; we have only so much time; we can command a limited amount of help from others. It is therefore imperative that we selgct the essentials most carefully. The other side of the problems lies in the fact ♦bai the child has limitations — -——— —~ V —- ” * ~~ •

strength and time. We most ehooat the essentials here also. ! If you were told bluntly that you had to choose between the child’* health and polished brasses, or between his companionship and fancy icing on your. company cake, yon would think the suggestion brutal. But do we not dally make such choices in our practical management of our affairs? Very few of us know how to choose wisely. Indeed, so far as any conscious, deliberate purpose goes, very.few of us choose at all. We drift Into’ our habits; we absentmindedly accept the conventions; we yield to the suggestions showered upon us by the periodl-

cals and the theaters; we seek the proprieties. But very seldom do parents sit down with themselves and canvass the possibilities of the dally life, resolved to choose the essentials and to Ignore all else. And because of our failure to do this our children get what is left of our energy and our consideration. They are the Immediate victims. But in the long run the parents themselves suffer quite as much.

She Noticed That Edith’s Sandwiches Were Put Up by the Cook.

She Had to Choose Between the Child and the Furbelows.