High, Wide and Deep
58 MENTAL WELFARE
- Author:
Madeline
Dixon. Geo. Allen & Unwin, 12/6.
C. Madeline Dixon has taken the words of Schiller, Deep meaning oft lies hid in children’s play ” as the theme of her latest book on the growth and development of young children. Three-dimensional living? high, wide, and deep?through their play activities and in their everyday experiences in contact with their fellow creatures, should be the lot of every child if he is to attain full stature as an independent and creative adult. After publishing her previous book the author went back to work with children of all ages, both in home and school, for a period of ten years in order to gain a more complete and understanding knowledge of her subject. So often does it appear in the lectures and writings of psychologists as though the small child were compounded all of problems and complexes. The author was amazed at the gap displayed between the jargon spoken by certain adults and their slight knowledge of children. The only way to understand children is to get to know them.
The young child often leads a Jekyll and Hyde existence between home and school. In the former he may he a very special individual, such as an only child, or the baby and pet of the household; while at school he is merely one among his contemporaries, all with interests and needs parallel to his own. The conflicting situations may for a time cause confusion in the mind of the child and may even lead to the development of symptoms of psychological disorder. There is a wide range in the minds of all children, however young. They are a product of the immediate results of their environment in both their positive and negative reactions; and they are also a product of age-old fears and ecstasies. They need channels for the expression of these things. The subject matter of this book is divided into two parts, viz., ” The Play Group” and ” Children in the Home “
The dimension of ” Width ” in this threedimensional expansion of life is concerned with socialisation of the child?the development of interest from himself to things and to his fellow beings, including, as it does, sharing, sacrificing, gaining and adjusting. Various kinds of play whereby this may be accomplished are discussed. Types of play which provide opportunities for physical courage, quick thought and action, discipline, perseverance, out-of-door nature study and friendships are also discussed. Amongst the group were non-adjusting children already in the process of developing into bullies or suffering from compulsions and excesses. The methods used for combating these tendencies are interesting, particularly the use of out-door locations known as Wild Man’s Woods and The Village.
” Height” is the conception used to signify a stretching up to creative activity and is concerned with ideas and emotions, not people and things. Creative expression is spontaneous in young children and based on sources within the child. ” Children under 5 are not yet copyists in Art,” says the author. The use of language, drama, dance, music and painting are necessary here and Miss Dixon has her own ideas about these activities. The desire for the use of these should spring spontaneously from the child and the adult should be there merely to help with simple advice where asked for, and not to impose on the child a perfectionist theory of technique. Above all, over-stimulation should be avoided and periods of little content or even of boredom should be accepted by the child as normal.
” Depth” is perhaps the quality most lacking in modern life, with its presentation of many problems in nature and science completely solved and the everyday use of perfected scientific apparatus and quick travel. How soon do the faculties of wonder and awe perish through lack of opportunities for development? “To-day’s children are in need of some opportunity to slow down and get below the surface of things,” says Miss Dixon. ” We give knowledge instead of letting it grow.” Even the teaching of science becomes more of an exciting technique for uncovering truth rather than a process of slow assimilation and inner experience. In those early pre-school years when troublesome queries are so often discouraged by impatient adults, children need to have their early concern with the depths of life encouraged so that these fundamental qualities are not destroyed. We should not seek to protect him from this questioning as though we had a fear that he might be engulfed. ” How do you make worlds? ” said a small boy. There are many ways of answering that question that might easily help to destroy the faculties of wonder and awe instead of encouraging them.
The short study of the development of a two-year-old is interesting and the chapters entitled ” Back Stage” concerned with home life, discipline, security and orientation for the only child, are full of wisdom. This is a most attractive book, with its lovely photography of young children at play and its sympathetic and intuitive understanding of the inner experiences of the child mind. E. D.
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