Woman's Club Work and Programs Part 31

Discuss the value of letting boys and girls grow up together as playmates. Athletic games for girls is also a good topic to take up.

Play-rooms for children, with suggestions for the decoration of walls, treatment of floors, and furnis.h.i.+ngs may be discussed. Sunday plays for small children will be found full of interest. The growth of the provision for play for city children is treated in many magazines of recent date, with ill.u.s.trations of playgrounds, garden spots, roof-gardens and the like.

IV--DISCIPLINE

1. _The Trained Parent_--Preparation for parenthood. Character and knowledge. Discussion of helpful books.

2. _The Normal Child_--The faults to be expected: forgetfulness, lack of cleanliness, lack of promptness, temper, etc. How shall we deal with the ordinary faults?

3. _Special Faults_--Disobedience, obstinacy, lack of self-control, dishonesty, lying. Discrimination as to seriousness. How far is imagination responsible for falsehood?

4. _Punishments_--Discuss the question: Is physical punishment ever allowable? Consider Abbott's theory of gentle measures. Fitting the punishment to the offense. The child's sense of justice. When are punishments outgrown?

BOOKS TO CONSULT--Jacob Abbott: Gentle Measures in the Management and Training of the Young. E. H. Abbott: On the Training of Parents. G.

Stanley Hall: Youth: Its Education, Regimen, and Hygiene.

V--MORAL TRAINING

1. _The Ideal of the Parent for the Child_--Necessity of a definite plan in the parent's mind. Discussion of books that have helped.

2. _Methods of Training_--Story-telling and reading aloud. Books for the child. The value of hero-wors.h.i.+p.

3. _The Contagion of Character_--Childhood's keen vision. Force of example versus reproof. The child as partner in the home work.

4. _Special Training_--Truthfulness. Chivalry and the spirit of honor.

Purity. How shall the mystery of s.e.x be taught to a child?

Unselfishness.

BOOKS TO CONSULT--Felix Adler: Moral Instruction of Children. C. C.

Everett: Ethics for Young Folks. W. T. Harris: Moral Education in the Public Schools. Horace Bushnell: Views of Christian Nurture.

The department of child-study most discussed to-day is that of s.e.x education, and club women should certainly take it up. Consider its necessity, the age at which instruction should begin, and the person who should give it, the teacher scientifically, or the parent at home.

VI--MANNERS

1. _Manners at Home_--Table manners. How early should they be taught, and how? Self-control. Modesty. Consideration for servants and tradespeople. Courtesy to elders.

2. _Manners to Playmates_--Teasing and bullying. Must our boys fight?

Should tale-bearing be encouraged? The spirit of honor and generosity.

Courtesy between children.

3. _Society Manners_--Definite training in social conventions. The place of the dancing-school. The value of children's parties.

4. _The Relation of Manners and Morals_--Are American manners deteriorating? The teaching of manners by historic stories. Sympathy, the foundation of courtesy. Self-restraint, the essence of manners and morals.

BOOKS TO CONSULT--Gow: Good Morals and Gentle Manners. Wiggin: Lessons on Manners. Dewey: How to Teach Manners in the School-room.

A talk may follow the first paper, pointing out that kind treatment of animals, especially of pets, tends to teach children gentleness, sympathy, and consideration. A little paper might take up the subject of the modern ideals of manners.

VII--OCCUPATIONS

1. _Reading_--Direction by parents and librarians. To how much liberty in taste and choice is a child ent.i.tled? Lists of good books for children. Discussion: What good books can we suggest? What books shall we avoid: poorly written, over-sentimental, and with low ideals.

2. _Gardening_--The children's plot. Flowers and vegetables. Household rewards. Compet.i.tion and prizes. The autumn exhibition. Children's books about gardening. Gardens for city children.

3. _Care of Fowls and Animals_--Moral value: sense of responsibility, kindness, practical sense. Raising of fowls for market. Owners.h.i.+p of animals: the lamb, the colt, the calf, the pig.

4. _Household Work_--Value of the regular task in teaching system, order, and punctuality. Housework for boys: care of rooms, cooking, and kitchen work. For girls: the normal routine made attractive. Reading from Blessed Be Drudgery, by Gannett and Jones.

5. _Handicraft_--The children's workroom and its furnis.h.i.+ng. Work in wood, metal, plaster, and leather. Drawing, painting, embroidery, etc.

6. _Music_--Should all children be taught to play and sing?

BOOKS TO CONSULT--Gertrude Jekyll: Children and Gardens. Holton and Kimball: Games, Seat Work, and Sense Training Exercises. R. K. Row: Educational Meaning of Manual Arts and Industries.

Prepare in advance a discussion on the subject of children's earning money. Should they be paid for doing daily household duties, or not?

Does earning money tend to make boys mercenary? Take up also occupations for invalid children and convalescents, and notice that handicraft is better than games for these.

VIII--THE CHILD AND MONEY

1. _Sources of Supply_--Gifts, earnings, and prizes.

2. _The Question of the Allowance_--At what age should a child have an allowance? What should it cover? How much liberty should a child have in using it?

3. _Lessons in the Use of Money_--Spending. Saving. Giving.

4. _Benevolent Tendencies_--How to cultivate the spirit. How to divide the money given. The chief objects to which to give.

5. _The Ethical View_--Responsibility for property. Honesty in acquiring, wisdom in using, generosity in giving.

BOOKS TO CONSULT--C. B. Burrell: The Mother's Book. J. W. Jenks: Life Questions for High School Boys. Julia W. Dewey: Lessons on Morals.

This is considered a mercenary age, and a discussion may be prepared on such subjects as these: How shall we keep our boys from becoming either extravagant or mercenary? How may our girls be taught to understand the value of money? What ought to be the relative emphasis on money in our home life?

IX--THE CHILD AND RELIGION

1. _The Beginning of Religious Training_--Prayers for children to use.

Telling Bible stories. The children's grace at table. Children's questions about G.o.d and heaven: how shall they be answered?

2. _The Child and the Church_--The Sunday-school kindergarten and primary cla.s.s. Suitable hymns for children. Children's societies. At what age should a child begin to attend church service?

3. _Sunday Hours at Home_--Need of cheerfulness and common sense. Sunday occupations: Sunday books, Sunday toys and games. Dramatizing Old Testament stories. Sunday, the father's opportunity. The twilight hour of song.

4. _The Age of Development_--Intellectual expansion and doubt. How shall we deal with this phase? The time of critical decision. How much influence should the parent exert?