The mental hygiene of childhood / [William A. White].

  • William Alanson White
Date:
[1919], ©1919
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The mental hygiene of childhood / [William A. White]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    of unknown, unconscious origin, and full control of one’s own powers; it means being the captain of one’s soul. Similarly the emphasis on the antag¬ onism of parents and children does not mean that the old ideal, that excludes this, is wrong. It means adding to the old ideal the facts of this antagonism and recogniz¬ ing the necessity on which it is based, namely, the necessity of emancipation. The recognition of this necessity and the ability to make it a part of our actual methods of dealing with our children will do away forever with that most dangerous of assumptions on the part of the parents that their children belong to them to do with as they will. The idea of the owner¬ ship of children by their parents perhaps served a purpose originally in securing for them a home and some measure of pro¬ tection, but it is needed no longer for such a purpose. Having done what it could in the course of development it now stands as an obstacle to further advance. The new ideal of parenthood will be a trustee¬ ship for coming generations and the parents