The Boy and the Sunday School | Page 4

have in the family councils. The general tendency today, as
far as the boy is concerned, is an utter disregard on the part of the father
and mother of the importance of the boy as a partner in the family. He
is merely the son of his father and mother, and their obligations to him
seemingly end in providing him with wholesome food, warm clothing,
a place to sleep and a room in which to study and play in common with
other members of the household. Very little thought is given on the part
of the father and mother to the real part the boy should play in the
direction of the family life. Family matters are never determined with
the help of his judgment. They are even rarely discussed in his presence.
Instead of being a partner in the family life, doing his share of the
family work and being recognized as a necessary part of its welfare, he
is only recognized as a dependent member, to be cared for until he is
old enough to strike out and make a place for himself. This sometimes
is modified when the boy comes to the wage-earning age, when he is
required to assist in the support of the family, but even then his place in
the family councils to determine the policy of the family is usually a
very small one.
In the home of today few fathers and mothers seem to realize the claim
that the boy has upon them in the matter of comradeship. The parent
looks upon himself very largely in the light of the provider, and but
very little attention is paid to the companionship call that is coming
from the life of his boy. After a strenuous day's work the father is often
physically incapacitated for such comradeship and only the strongest
effort of will on his part can force him to recognize this fundamental
need of his boy's life. It is just as necessary that the father should play
with and be the companion of his boy as it is for him to see that he has
good food, warm clothing, and a comfortable bed to sleep in. The father
generally is the boy's hero up to a certain age. This seems to be an
unwritten, natural law of the boy's life, and the father often forfeits this
worship and respect of his boy by failing to afford him the natural
companionship necessary to keep it alive. In addition to a place and a
voice in the councils of the family, it is necessary that the boy should
have steady parental companionship to bring out the best that is in him.
The ownership of personal property and its recognition by the parent in
the life of the boy is fundamental to the boy's later understanding of the
home and community life. Comparatively few fathers and mothers ever

recognize the deep call of the boy life to own things, and frequently the
boy's property is taken from him and he is deprived of its use as a
means of punishment for some breach of home discipline. In many
families the boy grows up altogether without any adequate idea of what
the right of private property really is, with the result that when he
reaches the adolescent years and is swayed by the gang spirit, whatever
comes in his way, as one of the gang, is appropriated by him to the
gang use. This means that the boy, because of his ignorance, becomes a
ward of the Juvenile Court and a breaker of community laws. The
tendency, however, today in legal procedure is to hold the parents of
such a boy liable for the offenses which may be committed. Instead of
talking about juvenile delinquency today we are beginning to
comprehend the larger meaning of parental and community
delinquency. Out of nearly six hundred cases which came before the
Juvenile Court in San Francisco last year only nineteen, by the
testimony of the judge, were due to delinquency on the part of the
offender himself. The majority of the remaining cases were due to
parental delinquency, or neglect of the father and mother. A real part in
the home life may be given to the boy by recognizing his individual
and sole claim to certain things in the home life.
Failure on the part of the father and mother to recognize the growth of
the boy likewise tends to interfere with normal relationships in the
home. Many a father and mother fail to see and appreciate the fact that
their boy really ceases to be a child. Because of this, parents very often
fail to show the proper respect for the personality of the boy, riding
rough-shod over his feelings and will. There follows in matters of