About this time, three or four months old, the child begins to tear
paper into pieces, and may be easily taught to let the piece, that
have found their way into his mouth be taken out again. Now, too, he
begins to throw things, or to drop them; then he wants to get them
back again, and the patient mother must pick them up and give them
back many times. Sometimes a baby is punished for this proclivity,
but it is really a part of his development, and at least once a day he
should be allowed to play in this manner to his heart's content. It
is tact, not discipline, that is needed, and the more he is helped
the sooner he will live through this stage and come to the next point
where he begins to throw things.

[Sidenote: Throwing]

In this stage, of course, he must be given the proper things to
throw--small, bright-colored worsted balls, bean-bags, and other
harmless objects. If he is allowed to discover the pleasure there is
in smashing glass and china, he will certainly be, for a time, a very
destructive little person. When later he is able to creep throw his
ball and creep after it--he will amuse himself for hours at a time,
and so relieve those who have patiently attended him up to this time.
_In general we may lay down the rule, that the more time and attention
of the right sort is to a young child, the less will need to be given
as he grows older_. It is poor economy to neglect a young child, and
try to make it up on the growing boy or girl. This is to substitute a
complicated and difficult problem for a simple one.

[Sidenote: The Grasping Instinct]