Dr. Adler, World-Famed Psychologist, Tells Mothers at School in Bayside Their Smiles Help Child Development
Mothers' smiles, celebrated in songs and stories, received the indorsement of science last night when Dr. Albert Adler, world-famous physician and psychologist of Vienna, spoke at P. S. 41, Bayside, on the development of the child.
"It is the skill of the mother that develops the social interests of the child," he said. "Each smile, each word, each tone of her voice contributes."
The three problems of childhood on which future success or failure depends are social, occupational and emotional, Dr. Adler said.
In cases of mental failure of people who suffer from feelings of inferiority and seek to create power for themselves in society by mean tricks, criminal enterprises, bad tempers, martyrdom and other unsocial efforts, we find, said Dr. Adler, that these things are always due to problems that the individual cannot solve. It is his insufficiency that leads him astray.
The basis for that insufficiency lies in childhood, he said.
"When you see mistakes and failures—stop!" he said. "Do not interfere until you go back and see the whole situation. Often those most close to the individual who has gone astray from mental health or social righteousness are too close to do anything about it. Help must come from a stranger."
Failures are brought about by errors in the development of the child—errors of training or of physical care, he said.
A child has first to meet the problems of society, co-operation and friendship; second, of occupation, the application of his interests to producing something for society, and third, of love.
"Love is like a question mark before everyone," said the scientist.
When a child cannot meet these three problems, he develops feelings of inferiority that hamper him in adult life, said Dr. Adler.
Three things especially hurt the normal development of the child, he said:
First, imperfect organs, deficient through inheritance. A child who suffers from weakness of the body suffers eventually from his handicap.
Second: Over-protection, pampering and coddling. A child too much pampered later causes trouble by striving for attention, clowning and misbehaving generally in school and society.
Third: Neglect and hatred of the child, on the other hand, leads the child to grow up always expecting to be attacked by the world.
A normal social development for children is the great work to be undertaken by mass education, said Dr. Adler. By co-operation between teachers and parents, the schools can be made the instruments to solve social problems and reduce crime, he said.
His lecture was one of a health series arranged by Miss Lucille Nicol, district superintendent of schools. Mrs. Albert Manning, president of the Mothers' Club of P. S. 107, presided at the meeting of about 200.
A musical program by the Bayside Mothers' Club included piano solos by Miss Sophie Sanina, formerly a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and soprano solos by Mrs. J. Edgar McKee.
Fuente: "Dr. Adler, World-Famed Psychologist, Tells Mothers at School in Bayside Their Smiles Help Child Development", The Daily Star (Queens Borough), Tuesday evening, 8 April 1930, p. 15, cols. 1-2, unsigned. Transcribed from the page image at fultonhistory.com (Brooklyn NY Daily Star 1930 - 0582), rendered at 300 dpi; the platform OCR was used only for orientation. The whole piece is legible. The paper calls the lecturer "Dr. Albert Adler". Only the report is transcribed; the other articles and advertisements on the page are omitted.