Bolshevism for Babies by Oliver Herford

/ "That babies don't commit such crimes as forgery is true, / But little sins develop, if you leave them to accrue; / For anything you know, they'll represent, if you're alive, / A burglary or murder at the age of thirty-five."

When W. S. Gilbert wrote these lines, he stated in an amusing way a great / truth, for the doctrine of infant depravity and original sin thus lightly / touched upon is, when stripped of its Calvinistic mummery, a recognized / scientific verity.

I sometimes think that if the "highbrow" mothers who turn to books / by long-haired professors with retreating chins for advice in child / training, should study instead the nonsensical wisdom of Gilbert's book, / they would derive more benefit therefrom. At least it would do them (and / their children) no harm.

I wish as much as that could be said of a book I have lately come / across entitled "Practical Child Training," by Ray C. Beery (Parent's / Association). So far from harmless it is, in my opinion, a more fitting / title for it would be "Bolshevism for Babies."

Obedience, says the author, "is your corner-stone. Therefore lay it / carefully. " And this is how it is laid: "_While you are teaching the / child the first lessons in correct obedience, do not give any commands / either in the lesson or outside except those which the child will be sure / to obey willingly._"

Obedience is to be taught by wheedling and cajolery, which lessons the / clever child will apply in later life as bribery and corruption. The / author denies this in Book I, p. 130, but his denial is so curious it / deserves quoting: "_You would entirely vitiate its principles if in / giving this lesson you should state it to the child like this: ‘If you / do not do thus and so, I will give you no candy._" Then on the same / page: "_While the thought of candy in the child's mind causes him to / obey, yet the lesson is planned in such a way that you are not buying / obedience._"

The "five principles of discipline" are embodied in the following story: / The father of a boy sees him and two other boys throwing apples through / a barn window, two of whose panes had been broken. To make a long story / short, the parent, instead of reproving his offspring, says: "Good shot, / Bob! Do you see that post over there? See if you can hit it two out of / three times. " "It would have been unwise for that father (adds the author / of "Practical Child Training") to say, ‘I'd rather you'd not throw at / that window opening-can't you sling at something else? ' The latter remark / would suggest that the window was the best target and the boys would have / been dissatisfied at having to stop throwing at it."

The inference that the boys only needed the father's objection to an / act on their part to convince them that it was a desirable act would be / ludicrous if it weren't so immoral.

If you ask me which disgusts me most, the Father or his sons, I should / reply without a moment's hesitation-the Author of the book!