The Dawn of Character
REVIEWS AND CRITICISM.
- Author:
Edith E. Reade Mumford, M.A. London:
Longmans, (jreen & (Jo., 1910. A few more books like Mrs. Mumford’s “Dawn of Character,” and mothers will have no excuse for remaining amateurs in their profession! If the average mother is a trifle daunted by the psychology and analysis contained in the earlier chapters, she has but to read a little further to find the most valuable kind of experience and advice placed at her disposal.
The first chapter is a plea for a closer study of child life, for a more special training and preparation than is usually given to those who are placed in charge of children. Mrs. Mumford believes that the successful educator fulfils toward the child that which the skilful gardener does toward the plant. He steadily trains, rarely prunes, and never violently disturbs it. In her chapter on the growth of imagination, we are shown the difficulties as well as the advantages which fall to the lot of the imaginative child, and Mrs. Mumford points out not only the dangers to which this type of child is exposed, but also the best means of avoiding or counteracting them. She believes, like many of us to-day, that a superabundance of elaborate and costly toys weakens the imagination by giving it nothing to feed upon. The two chapters on the law and growth of habits are excellent. When we realize that by the time we are five or six years old, threefourths of our actions are the result of habits already formed, the formation of right habits in childhood cannot be too strongly emphasized. Two methods are possible in the formation of habits; by punishing the bad actions and rewarding the good, or, wherever possible, by utilizing the child’s natural impulses in the right direction. The latter is not always practical, but it has the great advantage of making the child your ally rather than your opponent. Habits of concentration, self-control, accuracy, tidiness, and good behavior at meals?all these can be taught, but not with ease. It is a long, difficult process, and to do nothing and blame heredity for the result will always be easier. One phrase quoted by Mrs. Mumford should be incorporated in the creed of parents, guardians, teachers, and nurses, should be framed and hung upon the walls of their rooms and should be to them what “Do it now!” is to the clerk in the office: “Your naughty child is unfinished rather than wicked.”
Mrs. Mumford has evidently met the mothers whose children cannot eat eggs or milk, soup or vegetables, as the case may be. On this point she says, “Without doubt, our minds have an extraordinary influence over our bodies. Food, which cannot be swallowed in the presence of some people, can be eaten alone, or in the presence of others of whom we are in awe. Food disliked under one name can be eaten, slightly disguised, under another name. Only experience of our own can prove to us the extent to which dislikes in food can be overcome. They are well worth overcoming, we should show no dislikes ourselves; we should insist upon a morsel?a teaspoonful at the outside?of all ordinary wholesome food being eaten; we should permit no expression of dislike at the table, for children are imitative in this respect; and when the difficulty seems insurmountable, we should try the effect of solitude.” It is pointed out that children should not be expected to obey everybody, and a uniform standard is advised so they may know exactly what to expect. Some children, according to Mr. Paton, who resent personal discipline, submit willingly to a system. Spoiling one day, discipline the next, the vague fault-finding which so many mothers consider training, these should be avoided. In the beginning children must obey without question, later when they commence to understand the laws of behavior and conduct, mastery by others must be replaced by self-mastery, control from without by control from within.
The ideals of childhood supply a strong stimulus toward right-doing. To be like some one they love or some one they have read about,?this is a powerful incentive. Mrs. Mumford touches a great truth when she warns parents of naughty or difficult children to watch carefully the physical side; “The love of virtue is (indeed) bound up with health!” In her chapter on punishment, encouragement in right-doing is given the first place, seeing clearly as she does that punishment alone can never create a love of right. She believes punishment has failed in its purpose if it does not get the child on the side of right. It should help to train his judgment and increase his sense of confidence in those in authority. Also punishments must fit the child rather than the crime; they must be certain, speedy, and given without anger.
One of the best things in the book is the plea for freedom for the child to develop happily on his own lines, but the freedom must be “within the law.” It can be fully granted only after habits of rightdoing have been formed by early, wise discipline. This kind of freedom is one of the most difficult things to extract from the average parent. As a rule parents will do anything rather than grant that independence without which, life?either for a child or an adult?lacks all savour. Mrs. Mumford speaks of the lust of power shown by many parents and teachers. ” ‘How dare you disobey me V we say to the child, forgetting that surely his ‘daring,’ his fearless attitude towards ourselves, who are so much stronger and bigger than he, is one of the finest things about him.”
Concerning curiosity, we are told that it is the stimulus which impels the child to prepare for freedom. That this appetite for knowledge can be used for the good of the child goes without saying. Naturally it would be inadvisable to answer all his questions, but it is cheering to know that Mrs. Mumford believes that in the larger questions of life, birth, death, and sex differences, the child should be told the truth in such a way as to make the world more beautiful and desirable and to banish forever the “cabbage-bed and stork” improvisations, which have done yeoman service for thousands of shy or lazy parents.
In her chapter on different types of children, ]Irs. Mumford classifies them for convenience in six groups: (1) children in whom strength of will and determination is the most marked characteristic; (2) those whose characters are determined by the strength of their emotions; (3) those who are marked by the keenness of their reasoning faculties; (4) children who stand out on account of their exceptional responsiveness; (5) average children, who do not exhibit any one quality in excess; (6) those who are weak in some definite direction. About each group she has something of interest to say.
The last chapter is devoted to the child’s point of view. Stress is laid on our responsibility for this point of view in the child’s early years, and on the immense influence we unconsciously exert by our example. A strong plea is made to grown-ups to enter wherever possible into the child’s point of view. If they fail in this, then must they” take the consequences, and see between them and theirs as wide a chasm as that which yawned between the Olympians and the blessed children of “The Golden Age.” E. R. W.
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