Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 200, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 September 1918 — BUILDS CHARACTER OF CHILD [ARTICLE]

BUILDS CHARACTER OF CHILD

Kindergarten One of the Most Valuaola Features in the Scheme of Education. Kindergarten methods, whether begun by the mother in her own home or by the trained teacher in school, are of inestimable value to the child, for character building is always made their principal alm and object. Perhaps mothers may not have been trained in kipdergarten methods, but at least they can learn how to tell-a story. Anyone can read a story, but telling one is much more < effective and much more enjoyable to the child. Every mother should learn how to tell a story. Use your own words and choose simple and forceful ones. A bare plot is interesting to the tiny child, but many details should be supplied for the older boy and girl; they love them. Use direct discourse when possible. Be enthusiastic. Be dramatic. After the story is finished, talk it over freely with the children. Choose some stories which teach kindness to animals and some which give training in morals or good habits, but never point the moral.

A taste for best literature can often be fqrmed in early childhood through a wise choice of stories. This is also true of music. The songs and music used in the kindergarten are always carefully selected by the kindergartner and should be just as carefully selected for the home by mothers. Allow your children to hear only the best. Besides story telling and music, there are also pictures. Those which interest the child most show action and movement. Pictures are helpful because they develop the imagination and arouse the creative faculties?. Games also aid in the great work of character building. They help to develop self-expression and originality and can also be used to teach self-help-fulness toward others. Through games children may be made to discover the evil effects of self-will and the good resulting from self-control. Play a story with your child. See how attentive he will be and what powers of self-expression he possesses.