appalling desire to destroy things is manifested. Dolls will be torn to
pieces, the toy bank smashed, and if a hammer can be had, nothing is too
sacred to be knocked to pieces. This is not depravity in the child, much
as it seems to be, it is a legitimate desire to investigate, to satisfy his
curiosity, and to find a means of satisfying his increasing power to do
something. Up to this time an object is to the child merely the activity
for which it stands; a ball is something to roll or toss, a hammer is to
strike with, and it is a matter of supreme indifference to him what is
struck. At this stage the child has no sense of values and he cannot
possibly know that one object may be hit with a hammer, while another
object, such as a mirror, may not. He must be taught this fact; at first it
is entirely beyond his experience.

But the child now has considerable capacity for knowing, hence the wise
parent can easily and quickly teach him to discriminate and even to be
careful to avoid injury to certain objects. No attempt should be made to
suppress this new-born power of this searcher after truth; this instinct is
the basis of invention and of scientific research; it must be properly
guided, but not subdued. Give him playthings which can be taken to pieces
and put together, dolls which can be dressed and undressed, horses which
can be harnessed and fastened to carts, blocks which can be built into
various forms, and above all, for a boy, a large, soft block of wood with
plenty of nails, tacks, and a hammer. The amount of energy he will expend
in filling the block with tacks or nails is astonishing. Other appropriate
ways of expressing his energy should also be provided. Give the child
something to do.

This rule ought to be rigidly observed: _Never cut straight across the
activity of a child, but always substitute some other act in place of the
one not desired_.