limit of perfection, and a feeling of inadequacy toward them takes hold of him — which, as we have said, restricts his activity and leaves in his soul a kind of vexation. The modeling paste that the child can crush into whatever shape he wishes, for example, is far better for him than the cubes with which he builds houses according to a set plan.
The conclusion is that it is desirable to set apart for the child a corner of his own in which he may carry on whatever games and works he wishes without any objection — except, of course, to those from which harm results. The first to benefit from this arrangement is the mother herself, who is then assured about the contents of her house, for it is rare that a child does harmful things when he is allowed to express freely all that surges within his soul and to realize every idea that passes through his imagination.
At six, imitation of the parents prevails among children, regardless of sex. Dr. Hotzer, one of the famous specialists in psychological medicine in Austria, made an experiment on forty boys and girls to judge how they would behave in the game of "father and mother." The result was that all the girls asked to play the role of the mother — and the amusing thing is that the majority of the boys asked to play the same role! Dr. Hotzer traced this to the child's constant presence, all day long, with the mother, while the father is out of the house at his work — and not, as may occur to the minds of some parents, to a deficiency in their children's manliness; for no sooner does the child emerge from this period than the signs of manliness begin to appear.
After seven, it is not unlikely that the parents will face requests that could never cross the mind
— the microscope, for instance, or other toys of its rank — the sort of thing that would never have occurred to the father's mind at such an age. The explanation of this is that the method of upbringing is no longer the same as that on which the father was reared: whereas the latter grew up, for the most part, far from his family's gatherings, we see that the child of our day attends many of the parents' discussions at mealtimes, listens to the radio, watches the films made for children, and other things that were not within reach or permitted to his father. And as the method of upbringing has developed and the child's horizons have widened, his demands have developed and increased.
It is often observed that parents are perplexed about how to meet the child's requests and to decide what should be bought on an occasion: a toy, or a useful gift. Any decision taken in this matter must have as its touchstone the joy that will result from it for the child, and nothing else, before any other consideration — even the economic one. Hence the child's wants must be felt out, to determine what he desires — not to impose on him a shirt, for instance, because the shirt is more useful, or because he needs it more than a ball that would fill him with joy. This does not mean that the father's shoulders should be burdened for the sake of pleasing the child; rather, it is advisable that this observation be taken into account, to ward off the child's disappointment when the parents had intended exactly the opposite.
It is better to vary the toys as much as possible: for the price of one toy of exorbitant cost, an assortment of different toys can be bought that satisfies all the demands of the child's growing personality and his whims —
among them those that satisfy his affections, like the doll and the bear; those that satisfy his activity, like the hoop and the tricycle; and those that engage his imagination, like the cubes and the Meccano. Then the child may be left to his toys, to spend with them as much time as he pleases.
Play is the school of his joyful activity — the lazy are simply persons who were deprived of it in their childhood — and it is a release for the child's personality, with its influence in forming a balanced personality free of all shrinking.
So, madam, let your children play to their heart's content.