CONTENTS
CHAPTERPAGEI.The Eternal Boy-problem1Boy-problems are as universal as boys—Boys too often regarded as necessary evils—Necessity for training—How to study the boy—Tendencies in present-day education of children—Character-culture should come first—The home is the place and the parent the agency—Boys more difficult to train than girls—The boy’s viewpoint—Parental indifference to boy-training—Each boy is an individual problem.II.Parental Responsibility15Causes of waywardness—Wrong training and bad environment—Parental ignorance concerning boy-training—An instance—Heredity—Accountability of the parent—Spending money—Laxity of discipline—Average parent not fully equipped for his job.III.Child Psychology30Table of psychic characteristics at several ages—Infancy and imagination—Early boyhood and individualism—Early adolescence and hero-worship—Later adolescence and thoughtful mental attitude—Age when puberty occurs—Period of motor activity.IV.Adolescent Psychology52Adolescence the period of storm and stress—Change from childhood to manhood—Puberty—Physical indicia—Mental indicia—Psychic disturbances—Truancy and wanderlust—Lack of continuity of purpose and action—Proximity to the savage state—Humor—Sex-consciousness and its manifestations—Love affairs—Plasticity of mind—Will-power appears—Age of discretion—Cycles of susceptibility to religious influences—Age of experimentation—Hero-worship and its manifestations—Object of hero-worship—Gratitude lacking—Reflective period—Introspection—Sense of perspective is distorted—Visionary ambitions—Dislike of older boy for younger—Will-power, mental and moral stature attained.V.The Boy’s Viewpoint80Difference of viewpoint at differing psychic ages—Youth and age contrasted—The boy’s desire for physical expression—Inability for sustained mental or physical effort—Adult must put himself in boy’s place to understand him—The natural adult leader of boys—Boy lives in the present—Parent must do child’s thinking for him—Injustice to boy from failure to consider his standards.VI.Obedience92The cornerstone of child-training—Children’s attitude toward parents—Its causes and effects—Character is predicated on obedience—Parental prohibitions which cause disobedience—Habit of obedience formed most easily in early childhood—How obedience may be cultivated—Commands must be founded on justice and reason—Disobedience results from parental caprice or injustice—Illustrations—The rational quality in the boy—Importance of paternal example.VII.The Repressive Method of Training104Age when training should begin—Repressive method is negative—Illustrationsof repressive commands—Their effect on the boy—The play spirit in the young—A factor in mental and moral growth—The passive system of training—Evils of lavish supply of money—Effects of repression are depressing—Acts should not be prohibited without suggestion of other acts to fill the void created—Mental inspiration of praise.VIII.The Suggestive Method of Training117Necessity for formulating definite plan of training—Impossible to state a simple rule—American habit of drifting out of touch with offspring—Duty of fathers to continue intimacy with sons through adolescence—American children not generally well bred—English, German, French and Japanese methods contrasted—Suggestion is informative and inspirational—Negative commands produce mental hostility and will combat—Illustrations of effect of suggestion—A father’s plan—The big brother comradeship of father and son.IX.The Habit of Falsehood132Imagination a characteristic of childhood—Fantasy as real to childhood as reality—Thecause of lies—Illustrations—The fisherman’s lie—Clarity of mental processes largely determines whether a statement is a lie or an untruth—The lie of the older boy—Desire to avoid punishment the chief cause of falsehood—The remedy for falsehood—Moral suasion, its definition and application.X.Corporal Punishment143The place occupied by corporal punishment as a corrective measure—Reasons advanced for its use—Illustration from a banker’s experience—Average child does not rebel against authority—But only against authority unjustly or harshly exercised—The boy’s view of corporal punishment—Breaking the boy’s will—Unjust or excessive punishments conduce to lying—Effect of nagging on children—Mentalversusphysical punishment—Effective substitutes for corporal punishment.XI.The Cigarette Habit157Effect of nicotine on human organism—A physician’s opinion—Tobacco and the adult—Age when boys acquire the habit—Effectsof tobacco on adolescents—Opinion of Dr. Seaver based on physical measurements of smokers and non-smokers—Cigarette most pernicious form of tobacco—Influences which actuate boys to acquire the habit—Poisons in the cigarette—Acrolein and carbonic oxide—Moral effects—Juvenile criminals are generally cigarette fiends—Methods used to dissuade boys from beginning—Suggestion of a remedy for those who have contracted the habit.XII.Boy Gangs173Gregarious instinct in boys—Craving for association with their own kind—Two kinds of boy gangs—The supervised gang—The unsupervised gang—Illustrations of each—The gang leader and his qualifications—The necessity for a meeting place—Morals of unsupervised gang always lower than morals of its individual constituents—Motives for gang activities—Their code of honor—Street gangs are training schools for delinquents—Gang spirit inherent in all boy-nature—Supervised gangs and their influence on character development—Necessity for urging boy to join good gang.XIII.The Boy Scout Influence183The magic of the name Scout—The Boy Scouts of America—What the movement is—Ranks and requirements—Good turns and illustrations—Appeal of uniform and hikes to boy before joining—Purpose of organization is character-building—A former method of teaching ethics—Scout camps and hikes—The camp-fire tale as a means of training—The qualities which Scout associations develop—Boy Scout organization founded on sound psychology—A denatured gang—Opinions of sociologists—The universality of its appeal to boyhood—An efficient method of training boys in mass—It keeps the boy busy—The busy boy is the best boy—A field of social service for the adult.XIV.Juvenile Reading206Potent influence of books on the boy—Next to environment and companions—Two-fold value of literature—Desire of boy for something to read—He reads for entertainment; studies because compelled to—Reading must be suited to mental and psychological requirements—Fairy tales—Adventure tales—Informative books—Dime novel and nickel library—Theireffect on morals and literary taste—The bad book in the outward dress of good fiction—The psychological requirement for thrilling adventure tales—Comic Sunday supplements—Ideal companions for boys found in best books—Doses of literature as remedies for diseases of character—Stories of animal life—The juvenile magazine—A list of books useful for outlining a course of juvenile reading.XV.Agencies for Sex-instruction227Importance of accurate sex knowledge—Misinformation acquired at a very early age—Necessity for scientific instruction—Former antipathy to discussion—Parent is natural teacher of sex—Neglect of parental duty—Necessity for other agencies of instruction—Grammar schools, high schools, colleges, etc.—Danger of premature sex excitation—Individuals who are best adapted to teach—Teacher, physician, biologist, special lecturer—Opinions for and against the school as agency for sex-instruction.XVI.On Outline of Sex-instruction238Periods in child’s life when instruction should be given—Instruction should be suited to his psychological requirements—Mothershould begin instruction—Method known as the biological approach—Nature and amount of instruction necessary—Father should assume instruction at puberty—Necessary admonitions—Influence of theatrical productions with a sex-appeal—Musical comedies, burlesque and vaudeville shows—Sex-hygiene societies—A list of pamphlets published—A list of books recommended.XVII.Children’s Courts254An instrumentality for reclaiming the wayward boy—The state formerly regarded delinquent boy as a criminal—New attitude toward dependent and delinquent children—Their mental and moral concepts not matured—Infractions of law are manifestations of moral disease which it is the state’s business to cure—Child under sixteen cannot be a criminal—Delinquent child is a ward of the state—The Juvenile Court—Methods of dealing with boys—The probation officer—Laws for control of delinquent parents.XVIII.Conclusions270Every boy has inalienable right to be well trained—Basis of boy-training is parent-training—Insight,tact and patience necessary—Boy’s need of father’s companionship—Certain physical abnormalities affect intellect and character—Effects of heredity contrasted with environment—All boys possess a common nature—Summary of rules bearing on boy-training.