THE WISE MOTHER
The mother who says, "I care for nothing in the world except my child," and shuts out all other interests from her life, is really doing the child more harm than good. This is the dictum of Dr. Alfred Adler, noted Viennese psychologist who is recognized as the world's foremost authority on the mental hygiene of children. The ideal mother must cultivate outside interests for the child's sake, says Dr. Adler. She must keep pace with the developments in religion, education, science, and even sports and business in order to guide youth wisely into the outside world which it must ultimately enter.
"Your child will later meet other problems than the ones he is now facing in his protected home atmosphere," the psychologist points out. "You must have enough vision and understanding to help him to grow up flexible and broad-minded. If you cultivate yourself so that you can see the youth in you. This requires unselfishness on your part, for it is pleasant to one's establish for him a firm social basis. In order to do this you must train your child from babyhood to be interested in his own activities rather than in you. This requires unselfishness on your part, for it is pleasant to one's ego to feel oneself the center of another's universe.
"Parents who keep their children jealously to themselves and regard the home as not on the center but the circumference of all interest will cripple and warp the whole outlook of young people as they grow up. A mother should have friends and social life outside of her family circle, using such relationships to strengthen her home ties instead of weakening them."
Children, being most impressionable and most influenced by the mother in their earliest years, will invariably pattern their conduct from her example. If the mother indicates that they alone are important, they inevitably gain an inflated sense of their own importance which will make normal contacts with the world painful in later life. If the mother has lost her interest in what goes on outside the home, their natural curiosity about outside life will be stifled and their imagination curbed.
Particularly the wise mother will watch the early interests of her child and learn all that she can about it, advises Dr. Adler, whether the tendency be toward art, mechanics, business, or the sciences. Only by doing this will be she be able to guide the child's inclinations wisely and, at the same time, enjoy his progress herself as he grows and learns along his chosen line.
Fuente: "The Wise Mother", The Otsego Farmer and Republican (Cooperstown, N. Y.), Friday, 31 January 1930, editorial page; unsigned, probably a syndicated editorial (other copies are known, e.g. in the Rushville Republican, Indiana). Transcribed from the page image at fultonhistory.com (Cooperstown NY Otsego Farmer & Republican 1930-1931 Grayscale, 0041), checked against the OCR. The interview or article by Adler on which it draws has not been identified.