Part 2 (1/2)

Psychology. J. R. Angell. Chapter XVI, ”The Important Human Instincts.” Holt.

Essentials of Psychology. W. B. Pillsbury. Chapter X, ”Instinct.” Macmillan. Rural parents will find this entire text a non-technical and fundamental help.

Development and Education. M. V. O'Shea. Chapter XII, ”The Critical Period.” Houghton, Mifflin Company.

Psychology of Child Development. Irving King. Chapter on ”Instinct.” University of Chicago Press.

Your Boy: His Nature and Nurture. George A. d.i.c.kinson, M.D.

Chapter II, ”Elements of Character.” Hodder & Stoughton, New York.

An Introduction to Child Study. W. B. Drummond. Chapter XII, ”The Instincts of Children”; Chapter XIII, ”Instincts and Habit.” Longmans. The book is worthy an entire reading.

A Study of Child Nature. Elizabeth Harrison. Chapter I, ”The Instinct of Activity.” Chicago Kindergarten College.

Observing Childhood. A. S. Draper. _Annals American Academy_, March, 1909.

Are we spoiling our Boys who have the Best Chances in Life?

Henry van d.y.k.e. SCRIBNER'S MAGAZINE. October, 1909.

How to civilize the Young Savage. Dr. G. Stanley Hall. _Mind and Body_, June, 1911.

CHAPTER III

_THE RURAL HOME AND CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT_

That the farm home is an ideal place in which to build up the lives of growing boys and girls has become almost a trite saying. But that rural parents are yet failing to realize the child-nurturing possibilities of such a place may be exemplified in thousands of instances. When we point to the farm home as being the best possible place for rearing children, we mean that it contains all the crude materials for such work, and that there must be in charge of that work some one who is conscious of the many aspects of the problem. So we hope to show the fathers and mothers of the farm community, not what they might do if they were differently situated, but as specifically as possible what there is in the present rural home situation that can be made directly available in the construction of the lives of their children.

WHAT AGENCIES BUILD UP CHARACTER?

First of all, we must ask, What are the ordinary forces which need to be brought into service in the development of children? At the head of the list, we should name play, as furnis.h.i.+ng a great variety of instructive activities; then, work and industry; after that, the recreation that comes properly after the performance of work. So, we have with all their implied meanings the three great child-developing agencies: play, work, recreation. Now the question naturally presents itself, Can the ordinary farm life be made to furnish in right amount and proportion these three essential elements of character development?

1. _Play._--The necessity of indulging and training properly the play instinct of the child is becoming so fully appreciated of late that many of the state legislatures, and even the national Congress, have seen fit to make it a matter of deep concern. In order that all children may have full exercise of the divine, inherent right to play and to learn through play, many so-called child labor laws have been pa.s.sed. These enactments have prescribed conditions under which children will be permitted to work at gainful occupations, and in the majority of cases they have strictly forbidden such child labor below the ages of fourteen to sixteen.

But the foregoing efforts in behalf of the young have been of a somewhat negative sort, merely guaranteeing the child the right to play. On the positive side, much is also being done. The scientific students of child life have been pointing to the great benefits of play and to the present need for larger means and fuller opportunities for play on the part of the ma.s.ses of children. As an outcome of all this research and public agitation, there is now in progress a general movement which looks to the placing at the disposal of children everywhere the equipment and apparatus necessary for building up the character by means of play experience. The large cities are expending millions of dollars on munic.i.p.al playgrounds, and the towns and rural communities are catching the spirit also.

It has been shown beyond a question that adult life can be prepared for and enriched in many ways by means of scientifically provided play during childhood. Two or three results are especially sought through the playground training: (1) better physical health and increased power to resist disease; (2) enlarged opportunities for the outlet of the spontaneous activities through the use of the hands and other parts of the body; (3) the provision of a powerful deterrent of evil thought and deed and of juvenile crime; (4) the manifold opportunities for learning how to get along with one's fellows and to treat them in fairness and justice.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE III.

FIG. 3.--This beautiful Kansas home, with its large orchard and many shade trees adjoining, was constructed ”away out on the barren plains where no tree will grow.” In this place an excellent family of nine children grew up.]

It has already been urged that sound health const.i.tutes one of the foundation stones of good character. Play is especially conducive to sound health. Some may think that work without much if any play will bring about the same results in the child life, but such proves not to be the case. The monotony and drudgery of enforced labor have been crus.h.i.+ng the lives of children everywhere, especially until the wise legislation of very recent years prevented such thing. Strange to say, the same amount of exertion in spontaneous play may build up and strengthen the physical and mental life of the child. What is the secret of the striking difference in the result? Spontaneity! is the answer.

The child goes at his play with a joy and an eagerness which are entirely absent from work--a sufficient guarantee that his nature is being fed upon the very stuff which his soul craves. It is true that children will play in a bare room containing nothing more than a pile of trash, but such a situation is woefully lacking on the side of instruction. Very little will be learned from a year of such ill-provided play.

So, there is every necessary reason for urging that the farm home provide not only the time and the occasion for the play life of the children, but that the means and proper materials also be looked after.

At a certain rural home in the state of Michigan, where two boys and one girl were growing up, were found the following nearly ideal arrangements for the play life: a small clump of trees, which afforded opportunities for climbing and ample shade during the warm weather; a swing hung between two of the trees; a pole serving as a horizontal bar between two others; and a ladder leading to a rude playhouse constructed between the forks of a branching maple tree. Thereabout were seen also a boy's wagon, two home-made sleds and other materials of this same general cla.s.s, not to mention a fairly well-kept lawn, where the children could romp.