Concerning Children

by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

When the wise, beneficent parental love of Human Society for its young really does its duty, tenderly removing obstructions from the path of all our little ones, we shall give to them those common human advantages without which they cannot grow to the happiness which is their right, the usefulness which is their duty. All parents who are able to do more for their children would be free to do so, as those who can afford private schools, or educate their little ones at home, are not compelled to send them to the public schools.

As now society provides the school for the young citizen, on the ground of public advantage, without regard to the inability of the parent, so we must learn to provide a far richer and more complete education, and all else that the parent falls short in, because it is necessary for the good of society, and because we love our children.

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Index.

• Absence of mind, [54].
• "Acquired traits not transmissible," [9].
  • experiments with guinea-pigs, [11].
• Action, bodily, directed by mental processes, [57].
• Adult, our houses built only for the, [121].
• Age, the presumption of, [156].
  • not necessarily superiority, [159].
• Aged persons, cause of the respect and care for, [160].
• Ambition of youth a force to lift mankind, the, [23].
• American Revolution, the, mentioned, [35].
• Animal mother, the authority of the, [42].
• Animals, obedience in, [29].
• Arbitrary punishment, effect on the moral sense of, [84].
• Authority of the animal mother, the, [42].
  • effect of, coming between the mind and action of the child, [60].

• Babies confided to the care of lower races, [134].
• Baby, impressions of a, [49].
  • considered as a plaything, [175].
  • our disrespectful treatment of the, [171].
  • often neglected mind-growth of the, [250].
• Baby-garden, a public, [124].
  • example of the advantages of a, [139].
  • a private, [125].
• Babyhood, education not thought of in connection with, [135].
• Bible, the, [114].
• Biological advantage of a longer period of immaturity, the, [18].
  • law of reproduction, [296].
• Bodily action directed by mental processes, [57].
• Boston, [289].
• Brain, effect of obedience on the, [41].
  • training of children, the, [46].
  • the office of the, [47].
  • in early forms of life, [48].
  • function of the child, [49].
  • improvement, progress of humanity made through, [149].
• Breakfast, unpunctuality at, [149].
• Bushmen, the, [293].

• Callous child, treatment of the, [92].
• Casabianca, [30].
• Census Report, United States, [233].
• Character, comparatively small progress in the human, [251].
  • development of, assisted by right education, [252].
• Chastity, the virtue of, [26].
• Child, importance of the first fifteen years of the life of the, [21].
  • exercise of the will of the, in games, [22].
  • trained to obey, [31].
  • reasons why obedience is demanded from the, [37].
  • brain function of the, [49].
  • the, should be trained to presence of mind, [55].
  • advantage taken of the credulity of the, [56].
  • what the, feels and thinks ignored, [57].
  • the mind of the, [57].
  • effect of authority coming between the mind and action of the, [60].
  • culture of the, [63].
  • table manners, teaching the, [63].
  • early impressions of a, [77].
  • result of the deed of a, dependent upon parental knowledge, [82].
  • the naughty, [90].
  • a group of growing faculties, [90].
  • treatment of the callous, [92].
  • games, the daily lessons of the, [108].
  • teaching generosity to the, [109].
  • delicacy of perception of the, weakened by false impressions, [111].
  • perception in the place of the State of the, [119].
  • mother and, no separation of, [125].
  • treatment of the, at home, [170].
  • attitude of the family towards the, [171].
  • personal rights of the, [174].
  • no excuse for contemptuous treatment of the, [177].
  • necessity for recognising the citizenship of the, [182].
  • treatment at table of the, [183].
  • teaching a, consideration, [187].
  • the need for consideration between mother and, [187].
  • tendency to repetition of a, [191].
  • excessive sacrifice of the mother injurious to the, [193].
  • harmful effect of the mother's sacrificial devotion to the, [197].
  • effect of association with domestic servants on the, [235].
  • influence of surroundings on the, [237].
  • physical conditions of the household a danger to the, [238].
  • duty of the mother to benefit the, [261].
  • relation of the State to the, [278].
  • social responsibility of parents to the, [280].
  • gradual protection by society of the, [292].
• Child-culture and house service, the relation between, [233].
  • the study of, [265].
• Child-training, obedience in, [36].
  • honesty lacking in, [109].
• Childhood, the condition of the brain in, [49].
  • naturally inconsiderate, [91].
    • careless, [93].
    • clumsy, [93].
  • permanence of, as a human status, [119].
  • the status of, [180].
• Childish faith, an expression of, [56].
• Children, importance of the work of rearing, [37].
  • the most submissive, not the best men, [43].
  • trained to act without understanding, [51].
  • present brain-training of, discouraging to racial advancement, [62].
  • should be practised in reasoning, [68].
  • the punishment of, [74].
  • parents and the punishment of, [75].
  • over-indulgence of, [75].
  • learn before school-age, what, [77].
  • code of ethics among, [87].
  • the injured clothing of, [94].
  • lying to, [102].
  • ethics of, formed from the treatment they receive, [102].
  • open to instruction in ethics, [104].
  • sense of justice in, [105].
  • instruction of, in ethics, [106].
  • the teaching of ethics to, [115].
  • a permanent class, [118].
  • houses not built for, [120].
  • playgrounds for, beginning to appear, [120].
  • in institutions, [124].
  • mortality of, in institutions, [126].
  • expert care for, [127].
  • the care of, not servant's work, [127].
  • trained care for defective, [128].
  • a place for, to play in, [129].
  • a special house for little, [129].
  • the home as a place for, [180].
  • the private nurse not the proper person to have the care of, [132].
  • the mischievousness of, [137].
  • orderly development of the faculties of, [146].
  • travelling parties of, [150].
  • the demands of parents on their, [162].
  • errors of little, not grounds for humour, [172].
  • "impertinence" of, [175].
  • mother's lack of respect for her, [178].
  • the confidence of, not regarded, [179].
  • behaviour of women to, [179].
  • grown people and, [179].
  • discourtesy to, [181].
  • the balance of human rights should be understood by, [188].
  • the questions of, [191].
  • our love for our, [192].
  • benefit of mothers observing other peoples', [204].
  • method of observation of, [206].
  • the effect of the education of, by house-servants, [240].
  • improved environment of, a road to racial improvement, [264].
  • maternal instinct not sufficient to ensure good conditions for, [267].
  • the duty of the State to, [290].
• Chinese, the, [12].
• Christianity a social condition, [295].
• Citizenship of the child, necessity for recognising the, [182].
• Civic duties, ignoring of, by women, [154].
• Class, children a permanent, [118].
• Clothing, children's injured, [94].
• Collegiate Alumnæ, the Society of, [289].
• Combined motherhood, the possibilities of, [284].
• Conduct, all, right or wrong, [107].
• Confidence of children not regarded, the, [179].
• Conservatism, feminine, [169].
• Consideration between mother and child, the need for, [187].
• Consideration of others not identical with obedience, [40].
  • teaching a child, [187].
• Consistency, the desire for, [58].
• Constitution, our inheritance of, [15].
• Courage, the virtue of, [27].
• Credulity of the child taken advantage of, [56].
• Crime, retributive punishment of, [73].
• Cruelty to Children, Society for the Prevention of, [75].

• Defective children, trained care for, [128].
• Development, arrested social, [5].
  • race, and environment, [7].
  • of character assisted by right education, [252].
• Discipline, the question of, [70].
  • domestic, [77].
• Discourtesy to children, [181].
• Discussion between mothers, benefits of, [207].
• Doctrine of sacrifice, the, [194].
• Domestic discipline, [77].
  • relation, the small change in, [100].
  • Service Bureau, [254].
• "Don't Mary," [59].

• Education, obedience in human, [29].
  • not thought of in connection with babyhood, [135].
  • advantages of unconscious, [144].
  • nothing too expensive that improves, [150].
  • of children by house-servants, the, [240].
  • development of character assisted by right, [252].
  • better, for the young an imperative need, [253].
  • a social process, [280].
• Educational perception, lack of, among mothers, [249].
• Emulation, the love of, [23].
• Endurance, the virtue of, [26].
• Environment and race development, [7].
• Eskimo, the, [293].
• Ethics, code of, among children, [87].
  • our knowledge of, [97].
  • the cause of our small growth in, [97].
  • and social evolution, [99].
  • influence of religious custom on, [100].
  • children cannot learn, from the treatment they receive, [102].
  • a child open to instruction in, [104].
  • the science of social relation, [105].
  • the instruction of children in, [106].
  • sense of, shown in games, the, [108].
  • self-control one of the first essentials in the practice of, [107].
  • values, long association of, with religious text-books, [114].
  • the teaching of, to children, [115].
  • necessity for the study of practical, [114].
  • necessity for mothers to be grounded in, [116].
• Example better than precept, [51].
• Experience, [167].