Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 304, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 December 1918 — QUESTION ABOUT BIRTH [ARTICLE]

QUESTION ABOUT BIRTH

By MARGARET WARNER MORLEY. (Author of "Renewal of Life.”) Some day your child win ask where he came from, or where the new baby canje from. In properly answering this natural question the mother has a

chance to impress forever upon tm young mind a clean and whoietome knowledge of one of the most hnpor tant facts of nature. „?•’ Let the mother strive for two things: to start the child with a beautiful and reverent feeling concerning the origin' of life; to give this knowledge before the child can learn it in a harmful way outside the home. It.is well t;o anticipate the direct question by getting ready before -the child Is old enough to ask it. How to do this? Begin, perhaps, with seeds. Show the seed-pods of any plant. The seeds are the cElttfton^of. the plant. The plant gives them protection and feeds them with its juices. They are part-of the plant. The plant is the mother of the seeds. When the seeds are ripe the pod opens and the seeds leave their mother to live their own separate lives. . • Dwell upon the care the mother plant takes of her little seed-children, of the. beautiful flower petals she wraps ahoiit the tiny pod. Speak' often and reverently of motherhood. Make the little boy as well as the little girl understand and love the mother. ' Lessons From Nature. In the springtime show birds’ nestsif possible. If not* sitow pictures and talk about the building-and how both parents engage in it. Then show or tell about the eggs. Explain how the eggs grew inside the mother-bird. They are a part of her just as the seeds are a part of the plant. When the eggs are ready the bird Jays them in the pretty nest and sits on them to keep them warm.- The father bird sings to her and feeds her. Both birds love the baby birds and as soon as they hatch outr father bird, and mother bird feed them and care for them and teach them to fly. A hen sitting on her eggs can be used to teach the lesson. The egg grew in the hen. How wonderful it is that a little egg can change Into a beautiful bird or a cunning little chicken! As the child grows older lead him to notice that the seed grows into a plant just like the parent, that the egg becomes a bird like the parent. Tell the child ho'w important it Is for children to come from good parents. Speak of parents and children when talking of plants and birds; this will cause the child unconsciously to connect the ideas gained about plants arffl birds with human life. _ ■ When a chance comes to show the child young kittens or puppies or rabbits, or the young of any animal, tell him quite frankly, whether he asks or not, that of course the young ones come from the mother, that before 'they were born they were a part of her. Make it all seem natural to the child. • - - .

Teach Mother-Love. Dwell upon the love. and care the mother everywhere bestows_upon her children. Include father-love wherever it is expressed in the lower animals. When at last the great question comes, the child will probably answer it himself: “Mamma, did I come from you?” “Yes, darling, you were onceja part of mother. How mother loves her little son (daughter) 1” Each mother will think of a way to tell the story according to circumstances. Only remember two things. Tell the story properly before anybody gets ahead of you and poisons the child's mind. And tell it in a. way to make the child reverence and love parenthood.