THE EDUCATION OF PARENTS [To the EditoraW SPECTATOR.] Sm,—I have
been so much in ted in your criticism signed Susan Isaacs on the book entitled The Management of Young Children, that I am anxious to study it in detail.
It seems to combat the old erroneous idea that parents " owned " their children. No individual should wish to be owned by any other individual and this idea of possession is at the base of many wrong ideas of marriage and of parental responsibility.
It seems to suggest that the correct ideas are the main- tenance of freedom of thought, the removal of hindrances
to the best self-expression of the individual, the truth that example is better than precept, and yet I venture to hope still insists that commands are justified by the head of any community, parental or otherwise, when they are for the safety and welfare of the community.
May I suggest that the eduestinn of the parent on these
lines does not only begin when parenthood begins, but should precede the important career of parenthood just as, or even more than, training must precede the execution of any other career. Every child may not become a parent, but every generation is the parent of the next generation, and the training for parenthood can be put into force by the unmarried in their careers as well as by the married in their homes. Such a thought may well be an inspiration for increased usefulness and the sublimation of the desire for parenthood to those denied the privilege of actual parent- (Organizer, The Order of the Child).
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