Rensselaer Republican, Volume 16, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 May 1884 — The Child’s Point of View. [ARTICLE]

The Child’s Point of View.

To correct children for trifling offenses continually, at home or in school, has a bad effect. It is confusing kq.llie child, aud- do.es not tend to develop or to cultivate the moral sense. It tends to make distinctions between right and wrong which do not exist, and for this very reason weakens real ones. It is surprising to see how early children begin to look into the hidden things of metaphysics. <r Ls it really wrong, mamma,’’ a little boy said the other day, “or only against the law ?” The astonished mother questioned the child, found that some one had told him stories of the fugitive slaves, and of the laws of their time, and he .had, with the passion for generalizing which mfany children have, applied his knowledge to the circumstances and events occurring around him. To be perfectly honest with children, and at the same time to cultivate a power to pass by their small transgressions, which are often committed without premeditation, is sometimes well for both mother and teacher. It is only necessary to think ourselves back to childhood to understand how different the child’s point of view is from that of the older person, “ and to drr “this - occasionaJ'y would be helpful to most parents - - New York Pont. ■