Most children are amenable to such treatment, and overcome the habit. In a few cases, this appears impossible, and some deeper cause should be looked for. For instance, the child is afraid of the dark, and uses auto-erotism to quiet himself and soothe himself to sleep. In that case, it would be better, of course, that there was a light in his room, or someone remained near him while he was trying to sleep. Or it may be found that he has contracted the habit as a substitution for some other gratification. He may, for example, have a craving for candy which a too-wise parent has entirely tabooed for him. The cure is candy, by all means. It will often be found that the hidden cause is as simple as the foregoing, and that the cure is equally simple. However, if the child is at puberty, if he is adolescing, the problem is more difficult. In many cases, if the boy is shown that such a habit may make it difficult later on to be normal sexually, he will break it, and by a vigorous life avoid the problem. But there are cases which refuse to yield to such common sense, and either such a child needs an analysis, or, as one of our noted psychologists thinks, he may be permitted a limited expression until he gets past the dangerous years. In such a case, he must be warned against excess, to limiting himself only to overwhelming desire. This may seem like a poor way of handling the matter; but unfortunately we have here “not a theory, but a condition.” Actually if the boy is scared off, he may merely go on practicing the habit in private and with no restraint; or if he has become afraid of that, may turn to homosexuality or seek out a woman or a girl. Since this is not a mere child’s problem, since it is known that the run of men who go off on long expeditions, or sea voyages, or live in camps where there are no women, resort to such practices, we can hardly expect highly-sexed boys to observe a higher code. The best thing, of course, would be a psycho-analysis at the hands of a perfectly competent analyst. In that case a deep and hidden cause might be found, such as those outlined in the earlier part of this booklet. Where some boys find a kind of outlet in athletics and in general activities, such a boy might, for example, find an outlet in creating some form of art. He might be gifted as a painter or poet or writer of fiction. In many cases, this is the cure, until he is old enough to handle his sexual problem in the way best suited to him.