Old Fashioned Good Sense
I ventured out for more than a quick trip to town and back for the first time this morning. We went to the Royal Bake Shop for some zebra donuts, spent some time at the park and then stopped at the Walz to Walz antique store before heading home. It was there that I acquired this book.
I am an avid collector of both old farming and home economics type books. Not only does it give me a good reason to own books like the 1913 copy of "Soils and Manures", I find these day-to-day life instructionals fascinating. It gives a glimpse into what regular people found important to know in decades past.
This book is a dandy. Published in 1937 in Topeka, KS, this "Homemaking Guide" covers everything from how to throw a dinner party for up to 30 to hotel etiquette to daily exercise plans. You would think a book written for housewives in Depression era Kansas would be conservative but I am finding the world view it supports is surprisingly modern and mostly useful.
But I find the chapter on the "Mental Health of the Child" to be the most refreshing. First, because amongst the pages about removing stains and choosing stationary, the editors of this book found it important to include a chapter about not "training the child" or "how to be a good parent".but one on the mental health of the child. It is entirely focused on raising a balanced human being...and includes some of the best advice I have ever read.
But one section in this chapter seems especially poignant, considering this was written just prior to our entry in World War II. It is called "Teaching Useful Facts" and has 2 parts: War and Avoiding Prejudice. I shall just put them in their entirety here:
"War is recognized by sensible people today to be an abnormal condition; nations that engage in it are temporarily crazy, and the citizens partake of the national insanity. Parent should avoid over-emotionalizing either the excitement or drama of war or their own militant opposition to war. They should teach children simply and progressively the losses in life, health and property due to war, and the utter futility of the whole business.
Likewise, they should avoid displaying hatred and prejudice toward other races and nations, for these are the emotions on which unscrupulous war-makers plan always to play.
Parents may wisely point out the good things done by and in foreign countries. They are plenty of such.
A child brought up in a neighborhood in which there are descendants of many races and nations is fortunate. If he is permitted to play with them--as he should unless there is some compelling reason against it--he will speedily learn they are not different from him in any important respect.
A childhood in which prejudice is not developed will mean an adulthood not only capable of looking objectively at war propaganda but able also to see the folly of hate-inspiring organizations among our own citizenry."
How might our nation be different had we all followed this advice over the last 80 years? How might we still be able to change it today if we followed it now? Something to contemplate on a long summer afternoon....
I am an avid collector of both old farming and home economics type books. Not only does it give me a good reason to own books like the 1913 copy of "Soils and Manures", I find these day-to-day life instructionals fascinating. It gives a glimpse into what regular people found important to know in decades past.
This book is a dandy. Published in 1937 in Topeka, KS, this "Homemaking Guide" covers everything from how to throw a dinner party for up to 30 to hotel etiquette to daily exercise plans. You would think a book written for housewives in Depression era Kansas would be conservative but I am finding the world view it supports is surprisingly modern and mostly useful.
But I find the chapter on the "Mental Health of the Child" to be the most refreshing. First, because amongst the pages about removing stains and choosing stationary, the editors of this book found it important to include a chapter about not "training the child" or "how to be a good parent".but one on the mental health of the child. It is entirely focused on raising a balanced human being...and includes some of the best advice I have ever read.
But one section in this chapter seems especially poignant, considering this was written just prior to our entry in World War II. It is called "Teaching Useful Facts" and has 2 parts: War and Avoiding Prejudice. I shall just put them in their entirety here:
"War is recognized by sensible people today to be an abnormal condition; nations that engage in it are temporarily crazy, and the citizens partake of the national insanity. Parent should avoid over-emotionalizing either the excitement or drama of war or their own militant opposition to war. They should teach children simply and progressively the losses in life, health and property due to war, and the utter futility of the whole business.
Likewise, they should avoid displaying hatred and prejudice toward other races and nations, for these are the emotions on which unscrupulous war-makers plan always to play.
Parents may wisely point out the good things done by and in foreign countries. They are plenty of such.
A child brought up in a neighborhood in which there are descendants of many races and nations is fortunate. If he is permitted to play with them--as he should unless there is some compelling reason against it--he will speedily learn they are not different from him in any important respect.
A childhood in which prejudice is not developed will mean an adulthood not only capable of looking objectively at war propaganda but able also to see the folly of hate-inspiring organizations among our own citizenry."
How might our nation be different had we all followed this advice over the last 80 years? How might we still be able to change it today if we followed it now? Something to contemplate on a long summer afternoon....
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