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'Alright, gentlemen, we've listened to you very patiently. We've learned a lot, and we understand the great field of work laying ahead of us. I'm hoping we can get a little outside help. The other day I heard about a lady who's knowledgeable in mosses who frequently takes the children she knows on 'mossing' expeditions. My point is, education is like charity--it begins at home, but you've chosen to lead us far from our path right from the beginning!'
'Yes, that's true, we did go off on a bit of a detour. But don't you think it's a matter for trained professionals? If your son Tom hadn't wondered about the stars, we might have started at the beginning, if there is one. But it's more likely that we'd all be sitting around right now wondering where to begin. We're grateful to you, Henderson, for picking a place for us to start. And we're even more grateful to Mrs. Henderson for reminding us that education begins at home.'
'I'm sure that experienced people eventually learn all about it,' said Mrs. Clough, 'but even a mother who only has two or three children feels as lost as a ship without a rudder or compass. We know so little about children--or about humans beings in general!
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Parents in previous generations at least had something to go on. And a young mother could always ask for advice from older women about everything from colic remedies to which school to choose. But these days, everything is so scientific. As it turns out, most of that advice from older women is old wives' tales, not only risky, but ridiculous. We can't rely on that old advice, but we still haven't fully grasped the new methods. So we feel like we're suspended in midair.'
'Yes, you've described our dilemma quite accurately, Mrs. Clough. What you say accounts for a lot of things. The older generation complains that today's children are growing up irresponsible, selfish, disobedient and disrespectful. I personally think that there are a lot of positive qualities in our children. They're much more aware of being persons than we were at their age, but I have to admit that they do tend to pretty much do whatever feels right for them. They're not obedient, or reverent, or even respectful. But can't you understand our position? We're afraid of them! We feel like a navigator would feel if he was suddenly expected to polish some porcelain figures in the living room. The mere touch of his clumsy fingers might ruin one of the precious ornaments! Of course, we parents receive love and understanding from God that enables us to carry out our delicate task, so maybe it's our own fault that our children are beyond our understanding.'
'What do you mean, Mrs. Meredith? If you, as mothers, don't know what to do with your children, then who does? An enlightened father wouldn't dare go home and present himself as the parenting authority!'
'Yes, you're right! You men sometimes make absurd blunders when it comes to children. But that doesn't help us. Let's say a young mother is blessed with a tiny, fragile little person to care for, a baby who's full of possibilities. Her first priority is not only to keep it healthy, but to build up its reserves
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of health to last its entire life. That's when her confusion begins. You'll have to excuse me for providing details--the affairs of a child are important enough to call the attention of Kings, Lords, and Senators, if they'd only stop and realize it. Anyway, one mother I know wanted her baby to be well-dressed as befits a first-born child. She sent away to Ireland for a beautiful wardrobe of clothes made of lace and fine cotton. You fathers wouldn't understand. The little clothes had barely been used enough to go through their first washing when somebody said that 'such-and-such' is the only suitable clothing for babies and grown-ups. I doubt if the mom realizes why, but there was a hint of science in that advice, so she got rid of all the lace and cotton and bought all woolen clothing! Later, when the baby began eating solid food, she heard all kinds of pseudo-science praising fructose, starchy foods, fluoridated water, and what not. This wasn't as simple as the wool issue. She couldn't make sense of it, so she finally had to ask her doctor how to feed her child. More complicated issues came up: 'Children see everything,' 'children know everything,' 'whatever you make him now is what he'll be for the rest of his life,' 'the period of infancy is the most important time in his life.' My poor friend became totally bewildered. The result is that, in her ignorant anxiety to do the right thing, she's constantly changing the child's diet, daycare, sleeping schedule, outside time, according to the latest scientific finding that her acquaintances share with her. I think her child would have been better off if she'd just raised him the way her mother raised her.'
'Then you think it's better to continue with old, traditional ways of doing things?'
'Not at all! It's just that, I want to know where I'm going. I believe that we live in a time of great opportunities.
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My problem is this: You can't raise children on opinions these days. There has to be a principle behind even the routine matters. We need to take a course to learn the basic laws of healthy living and mental health.'
'Mrs. Meredith is right. We have some serious work cut out for us, and it would be as useful for us as it for our children. We have to learn the first principles of human physiology.'
'Wouldn't it be sufficient to learn basic hygiene? I like the concept of physiology made easy--you just learn what to do without having to fully understand why it's done that way.'
'No, we need to stick to physiology. I don't think that knowing what to do is helpful unless it's based on a methodical, not piecemeal, understanding of why we do it. Because all parts of human/animal survival are so inter-dependent that you can't touch on one without affecting something else. What we need to comprehend is the laws for the well-being of every part of the whole, and for the maximum efficiency of every bodily function.'
'Good heavens! We'd all have to qualify to be doctors!'
'Actually, no. We won't need to interfere with the doctors. We'll leave sickness to them. But we need to concern ourselves with maintaining health and increasing physical strength. Here's how we do it. We thoroughly familiarize ourselves with the structure of the skin--its functions, and the interdependence between those functions and other internal organs. So by doing the best thing for the skin, you gain emotional excitement, pure joy for awhile, followed by a stable increase in well-being, or happiness. Do you remember how a popular American poet sat on a gate
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in the sun after his bath, and skin-brushed for hours until he was as red as a lobster? Perhaps his time might have been better spent, but he had more joy than if he'd just heard that there was a new edition of his published poems. Well--if proper skin treatment is a means to joy, health and cheerfulness, what mother wouldn't do it for her child? Unfortunately, it's not as simple as it looks. It's not as easy as bathing and skin-brushing. There's also diet, clothing, sleep, bedroom, sunshine, cheerful surroundings, exercise, bright conversation, and a thousand other things that have to work together to bring about this 'happy-making' situation. What's true for the skin is true for everything else. We can't focus our perspective on any one organ or function. Everything works together, so we need a thorough understanding of the whole of physiology. Can we decide unanimously to get ourselves educated about the scientific principles of living?'
'The scientific principles of living--sure, but that covers a lot beyond the scope of physiology. Consider the child's mind, his moral and religious potential. It seems to me like we put too much emphasis on the physical body. Our youths are encouraged to sacrifice everything for physical training, and there's a sensuousness that George Eliot very accurately portrayed in 'Gwendoline' in the way that every detail of bathing and primping is treated so importantly. The endless way the body and everything related to it is treated makes a person bored to tears. And, worst of all, I think we're undermining our own goals. Sure, go ahead and care for the skin, develop the muscles, all of that--but there's more than that to think of. I don't think that living to the flesh, even in that way, is allowable.'
'You're right. But you're mistaken if you think that
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physiology leads to an unhealthy over-emphasis on muscles and physical strength. Perhaps there's a youth whose muscles are his proudest asset. Like most of us, he gets what he aims for--some local fame as an athlete. But what does he sacrifice for that? His aggressive sports don't increase the amount of blood that keeps him alive. In fact, if his muscles demand more than their share of his blood, then the loss will be felt somewhere else--probably his brain, and all of his other vital organs. Later, when his sports days are over, the brawny, broad-chested athlete collapses. He's the victim of boredom, and now his liver, lungs or stomach claim the back-pay of their share of blood supply that they were cheated out of.'
'But, Mr. Meredith, surely you don't look down on physical fitness? I thought that one of a parent's highest priorities was to send his children into the world as 'fine animals' in the best physical shape possible.'
'Yes, that's true, but it's the same in this case as it is with everything else--there's a 'science of the proportion of things.' Youths who single-mindedly seek muscular feats with no moderation are nothing more than delusions and traps. In the long run, they don't turn out to be the 'fine animals' they seemed. They have very little perseverance.'
'But children are more than animals. We need to know how mind and moral feeling can be developed.'
'Studying physiology--or mental physiology, if that term works better for you, Mrs. Tremlow--will help even in those areas, because the habits that a child grows up with seem to leave some sort of physical record on his physical brain. His habits become a part of him even in a material, physical sense. So then, it's up to parents to ease their child's journey in life by developing habits of good living in the areas of
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thinking, feeling, doing--even in spiritual things. We can't make a child 'good.' But by developing the right habits, we can lay down paths that lead to a good life right in the physical substance of his brain. We can't make him hear God's voice, but we can create paths in his mind that make a clear place for God to commune with him 'in the cool of the evening.' We can't make a child smart, but we can make sure that his brain is fortified with pure, healthy blood, and that his mind is nourished with productive ideas.'
'I guess all of this would sound encouraging if a person felt like he could do it. But I feel like a great big map of some unknown country was just rolled out on the table in front of me and the few places I want to go aren't marked anywhere on it. How, for example, are we supposed to make a child obedient, kind and truthful?'
'Mrs. Tremlow, your question points out additional aspects that we'll need to consider. A few set rules won't be very helpful. We'll need to know at least a little bit about what makes up human nature. So, besides physiology, we'll need psychology, and to that we'll need to add moral science. Human nature is so complex, yet simple at the same time. It has so many points to consider, yet it's all part of the same thing. You can't learn everything about human nature in a single lecture and then imagine that the subject has been exhausted. Yet no other study will yield so much wonderful reward for our effort.'
'What about the child's spiritual life? Do any of those 'ologies' include the higher life, or is our culture too scientific for such things?'
'Well, that has its own conditions--the impact of God on human beings, which is what generates life, and without it, there can be no living. The life is already there in the child, planted and kept alive by Divine power, but there's a role for us in developing that life, too. The Spirit thrives when it's given nourishment and work every day. It's
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our job to put in front of the child the 'new thoughts about God and new hopes of Heaven' that are his spiritual diet. It's up to us to give him practice in the spiritual labors of prayer, praise and effort. How? Well, that's another question that our new Society will have to figure out.'