How frequently some unusual noise leads a parent to say: "Keep still! What was that? Did you hear that noise?" The little folks of the family are startled, their eyes grow large and their faces pale, while they cling to the frightened mother. Of course, investigation usually shows that the strange and alarming noise was merely the slamming of a cellar door, the rattling of a curtain in the wind, some one walking about downstairs, or the action of the new furnace regulator in the basement. But meantime the harm is done to the children—fear, the worst enemy of childhood, has been unconsciously planted in the mind by the thoughtless and nervous parent.
FEAR OF DARKNESS
Consider for a moment the thousands of children who are early taught an abnormal fear of the dark. Even when the child is absolutely free from such a fear, when sent into a dark room some member of the family will thoughtlessly remark, "Do you think it is quite right to send that child into that dark room? Suppose something should happen." The child quickly catches the suggestion that something is supposed to be or happen in the dark, and in his mind is sown the seed of fear.
When our boy was about two years old he was carried one night to the window by a caretaker, and as they looked out into the darkness the young woman said, "Boo! dark!" The little fellow shuddered, drew back and repeated, "Boo! dark! Boo! dark!"
That night, as was our custom after the evening story, we tucked him in his little bed, turned out the light, and saying, "Sweet dreams, Darling," closed the door. Imagine our surprise to hear, "Mamma, Mamma, Willie 'fraid of dark, Willie 'fraid of dark," and it was with difficulty that he was induced to go to sleep in the dark. Immediate inquiry revealed the occasion of his fears, and the next night we set about to eradicate the fear of darkness from the little fellow's mind.
For ten successive nights we took his hand, and, leading him into a dark room, said, "Nice dark, restful dark; we go to sleep in the dark; we're not afraid of the dark, no." Each night, save one, we were met with, "No, no, naughty dark. Willie 'fraid of dark." On the tenth night as we entered the room as usual, repeating, "Nice dark, restful dark; we go to sleep in the dark; we're not afraid of the dark, no," his little mind responded. Suggestion had at last routed fear and given birth to faith. We had won! But it had taken ten nights of constant work to undo one moment's work of a thoughtless girl. Every night since he has gone to sleep in the dark without a murmur.
THE FOLLY OF MAKING THREATS
Threats only show weakness on the part of the disciplinarian. Most school teachers early learn the folly of making threats. When I was teaching school I recall that a number of slate pencils had been dropped on the floor one afternoon. Thoughtlessly I threatened, "Now the next child that drops a pencil will remain after school and receive punishment!" My fate! The weakest, most delicate girl in the room was the next to drop her pencil, and she was a pupil with a perfect record in deportment. The reader can imagine my embarrassment. I had threatened punishment, and so had to get out of the predicament as best I could. This experience effectually cured me of making such foolish threats.
Most of us live to regret the threats we make. "Your father will thrash you when he comes home tonight," or, "You'd better not let your father see you doing that," or, "You wouldn't behave that way if your father was here," etc., are common threats which we hear directed at headstrong and willful boys. What is the result? Do such threats cause the love of the child for his father to increase? They make the child actually afraid of his father.
"I'll 'bust' your brains out," said a four-year-old to his pet lion, because it wouldn't stand up. Now it should be remembered that these things do not originate in the minds of the boy and girl. They only repeat the things they hear others say. It betrays both cowardice and ignorance to undertake to secure obedience by such threats as "I will box your ears if you don't mind," etc.