Your Child and Your Community
AN EDITORIAL MESSAGE
The character of a child is molded to a striking extent by the standards of the community in which he lives. The passing of the frontier marked the passing of the time when the family circle was an entity in itself. Modern life, so diversified, is affected by a thousand influences. Automobiles, the radio, motion pictures, the steady speeding up of life, have had their effect upon the family circle until no home today can withdraw into itself and be independent of its surroundings. Even though parents have devoted the utmost care and thought to the child's home training, the character of the young is dependent in large measure upon the ideals of the community in which he lives. Community standards infiltrate the lives of all boys and girls.
Parents in American cities are sharing the guidance of their children with the bootlegger, the corrupt politician, the exhibitors of lurid motion pictures and the proprietors of objectionable dance halls. No child can be subjected to these influences and come away unchanged.
The motion picture which presents false standards of life, which raises crime to the plane of adventure, is bound to have a pronounced effect upon the vast audiences of children who crowd to see it.
Less generally realized is the effect on children of political intrigue in a community. Parents believe that children are ignorant of it. How far wrong they are! A club of boys, many of them out of work, were recently questioned as to what each one wanted to be. A surprising number of answers were the same: "A bootlegger," with the explanation: "They make big money, have fine clothes and big cars. Even if they do get caught, they can buy themselves free." Such is the influence on children of men whom they see living in luxury, regardless of how their money is obtained. Never doubt that children are quick to detect inconsistencies and no amount of talk about "civics" will offset the effect of political corruption which they know exists. "Protection" and "pull" are common subjects for playground boasting and the sense of immunity breeds recklessness.
Regardless of home training, the average child breaks down under certain temptations such as gambling machines near schoolhouses, the offers of junk dealers who buy stolen electric light bulbs and such other things as are easily filched. Children need more than home protection. Unintelligent solicitude on the part of parents, attempts at home protection in the midst of community corruption, will not safeguard the child. Parents can not hope to be omnipresent companions to their children. They must trust them to the moral standards of their communities. What children need is the protection of a community from which harmful influences and unfair temptations are removed, and this parents should work together to accomplish.
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