between going to the reformatory or jail and turning out decent men
and women is one of wholesome and sympathetic environment. Undue
severity, no less than bad example, confirms many a youth in these
habits--which should represent but a passing stage in his
development.

Adults should not read their own ideas of morality into the acts of
their children and then catalogue them as right or wrong. Most
children's acts are neither right nor wrong: they are merely
expressions of feelings and ideas peculiar to the stage of
development. With young children ideas of right and wrong divide
themselves into acts which are permitted and those which are
forbidden. They have no conception of right and wrong beyond that.

Many an act that a boy commits, which we consider wrong, is but the
expression of the instincts of his age. Our duty consists in helping
him to pass through that stage without making permanent habits of
these temporary impulses. This help must not be given through
branding the acts as wicked or criminal, nor is moralizing itself
generally effective. Help must come through providing adequate
opportunities for play and games and work that will use up surplus
energy both of mind and body. Above all, help must come through the
healthy examples and the constant manifestation of high ideals in
the home.

Every normal child will in time respond to these influences. There
are, unfortunately, some children that will not develop beyond this
stage of primitive, savage instincts; but such abnormal children are
rare and we cannot deal with them here.