The Question For The Child

As The Creative Adult Needs To Toy With Ideas, The Child, To Form His Ideas, Needs Toys--and Plenty Of Leisure And Scope To Play With Them As He Likes, And Not Just The Way Adults Think Proper. This Is Why He Must Be Given This Freedom For His Play To Be Successful And Truly Serve Him Well.

A Parent Who From His Own Childhood Experience Is Convinced Of The Value Of Fairy Tales Will Have No Difficulty In Answering His Child's Questions; But An Adult Who Thinks These Tales Are Only A Bunch Of Lies Had Better Not Try Telling Them; He Won't Be Able To Related Them In A Way Which Would Enrich The Child's Life.

The Parent Must Not Give In To His Desire To Try To Create The Child He Would Like To Have, But Rather Help The Child To Develop--in His Own Good Time--to The Fullest, Into What He Wishes To Be And Can Be, In Line With His Natural Endowment And As The Consequence Of His Unique Life In History.

The Delight We Experience When We Allow Ourselves To Respond To A Fairy Tale, The Enchantment We Feel, Comes Not From The Psychological Meaning Of The Tale (although This Contributes To It) But From Its Literary Qualities-the Tale Itself As A Work Of Art.

Play Permits The Child To Resolve In Symbolic Form Unsolved Problems Of The Past And To Cope Directly Or Symbolically With Present Concerns. It Is Also His Most Significant Tool For Preparing Himself For The Future And Its Tasks.