I am very much in favour of the current way of raising children. It used to be that we fed them on a rigid schedule, put them to bed at a specific time and NEVER pick them up when they cried. Today the little one is fed when he's hungry, and when he's out of sorts, he's picked up and comforted by his parents. Somehow this seems right to me. Simply stated, I think children need all the love you can give them right from the day they are born. Small knocks bruise hard in childhood. When I was a kid we had jovial neighbour who used to pile his ‘29 Chev high with children every Saturday for a ride in the country or your or journey to the river swimmin’ phole. One Saturday he gathered all the available kids, as usual, and headed for river beach. I was on an errand at departure time. Impatient to be off, he didn't wait for me; and down the corridor of years, from my hard won adult viewpoint, I can see no special reason why he should have. Yet I still remember the stark tragedy of that summer afternoon. I was unwanted and I wept, and was utterly inconsolable, alone in misery. Like I say, small knocks Bruise hard when you're very young. So little do I understand this, that I do not know whether it is for good or evil that we toughen up, eventually, for that journey ahead. I do know that I feel childhood should be a very happy time for both the youngster and the parent and for this reason I am inclined to reject some of the scientific theory now abroad and raise my kids, perhaps wistfully, according to instinct and folk learning.
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