The child must be encouraged to unfold. Its thoughts, its ideas, its method of carrying out its ideas, its instincts and intuitions, in a word, its genius must be brought forward, never suppressed. If the ideas are wild, the play rough, the instincts perverse and the child is unruly, the mother must seek ways to direct them. How can you judge the workings of that mind and soul? You must study your little one’s motives, in order to pass a sentence on the act he has committed. If your boy is noisy, rough, pugnacious, you may lay it to a surplus of nervous energy that has no proper outlet. He is ungovernable perhaps, neither you nor his father nor the teacher at school can manage him. What are you going to do? His father whips him, but the youth is India rubber—he rebounds. The rod has not reached his inner consciousness. The teacher keeps him in after school, and on being freed, he rushes into a fight. You, his mother, are distracted, for although he seems to listen to you, he pays little heed to your commands. DIRECT YOUR CHILD’S ENERGY What are you going to do with such a child? Send him to a reform school, and ruin his life? Beat him until all the buoyancy has gone out of his nature? Keep him in after school until he becomes irritable and nervous? No, indeed! The best thing to do with a lively and unrestrained child is to set his energies in a safe and sane channel. Teach him field sports, open up for him the delights of the manual training room. Give him a hammer, a few nails, a bit of lumber, a paste pot, some cardboard. Boys love to work with their hands, so let your boy make things. He will like to build stools and coat racks, boxes, broom-holders, anything that is useful. That is one of the great secrets of bringing up a boy, make him useful. He likes the little sense of power, the natural feeling of pride that comes from a knowledge that he is of some consequence, that his work counts. The boy who is taught to do something well, will not long be unmanageable. KEEPING THE BOY BUSY Supposing the boy is not to be directed at once into the enchanting field of handcraft; supposing his mother has allowed him to run wild a little too long or has not noticed that he was evincing signs of lawlessness until the neighbors or teachers send home uncomplimentary reports, what’s to be done? Try another tactic. See if you cannot interest him in outdoor sports to a point where he reaches self-respect. Baseball will do, a bat and a ball may help him to rouse the best that is in your lad. Then let him help his father with chores, let him drive the team to town, or sell a load of produce—nothing brings out a boy’s incipient manhood like the thought that he is helping his “dad,” that he can be depended upon, and held responsible for something really worth while.