The Home InfluenceBy Ida Tarbell(From “The Business of Being a Woman.”[5])(See page 266)
By Ida Tarbell
(From “The Business of Being a Woman.”[5])
(See page 266)
Every home is perforce a good or bad educational center. It does its work in spite of every effort to shirk or supplement it. No teacher can entirely undo what it does, be that good or bad. The natural, joyous opening of a child’s mind depends on its first intimate relations. These are, as a rule, with the mother. It is the mother who “takes an interest,” who oftenest decides whether the new mind shall open frankly and fearlessly. How she does her work depends less upon her ability to answer questions, than her effort not to discourage them; less upon her ability to lead authoritatively into great fields than her efforts to push the child into those which attract him. To be responsive to his interests is the woman’s greatest contribution to the child’s development.
[5]McMillan Publishers.
[5]McMillan Publishers.
[5]McMillan Publishers.