Home & Country Newsletters (Stoney Creek, ON), Winter 1960, p. 30

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his community and his own country. Only when he has learned loyalty on these levels, will he be later able to grasp the higher loyalties to God and mankind. There is no greater pleasure than to open a child‘s heart and mind to the beauties and wonders of the world around him. In bookstores and in libraries we have at our disposal remarkably well designed picâ€" ture and story books for even the smallest child which will help him to discover that he shares this world with children of races and customs different from his own. He will accept with delight a natural explanation of life‘s abundant variety the way he acCcpts and appreciates the manifold shapes and colours of flowers blending in a harmony of beauty. A good way to make a Child aware of the exis- tence of less fortunate children in the world is to let him share his gifts on birthdays and at Christmas time with the needy children of other continents. No one is born with racial prejudices. and if a child has learned early "that all people are brothers and sisters in the human family" he will be immune in later life to the nonsense of racial superiority. The members of our Women‘s Institutes live most- ly in small villages and hamlets. During the last ten years many uprooted and bewildered newcomers from foreign countries settled in our rural districts and gave us a rare opportunity to show our children how to bridge differences of language and customs in real life, We were able to prove to them that friendliness works like a universal language which is understood by everyone. Our children could also observe at first hand that even people born in distant places have the same feelings about things that really matter, as we have ourselves. In the training of my child to be a world citizen it is important to encourage his friendship with child- ren from other countries and of different religious beliefs so that he would learn that there are many interesting ways leading to God. This early experi- How Can I Train My Child To Be A Citizen of the World? By Mrs. Wallace J. Knapp Ontario's Third Prize Essay in the F.W.I.C. Competition 1959 we stand with our children on the threshold of a new era; a shining new world of sleek jet airliners and man-made planets: an exciting age of space travel and intercontinental flight which will put the whole world at our feet. But under all the glitter, as we look more closely, we see the tarnish of misunderstanding, the stains of poverty and loneliness and fear, the ugly scars of mistrust and discrimination. We wonder how the wounds may be healed. so that all nations and all peoples may benefit in this new world of tomorrow. Scientists are planning the "things" of the future, but it is we â€" the parents of small Children â€"â€" who truly hold the “soul” of the universe in our two hands. For if we can teach them to live together with their neighbours in understanding. to seek the roots of their problems in discussion with word- power rather than manpower, to learn each others' IN THlS YEAR nineteen hundred and fifty-nine, 30 ence should help the child to respect law in if the right of everyone to freedom of won 1c The few ideas I mentioned here I haw um] ,. bring up my own two sons. At the present a ‘U far away doing postgraduate work in their professions. But wherever they are I know nit ,h; share my belief in the brotherhood of man As for myself, I do not consider my i ,l’iip . . _ , it t thd' Our village 15 full of promismg younggtcn ,i “if . *‘ t i knows â€" a word. a smile. a book can Open “an; mind to the wonders of life. In our Instilu: H. .p a: ' u l have the opportunity to associate with bl‘l‘.‘ Kaliin mothers whose friendship I greatly value. If: 4,. private discussions we try to deepen our nn {,an. ing of the problems of mankind and by \l ; up life experiences with these young friends I 'I haps contribute in a small way to the ll their children for world citizenship. I can also work for world friendship l interest in students from foreign countrie- tend Canadian universities. Their prescn home can waken the interEst of [CCU-ilgt community. Only last summer we had Negro student from the Bahamas a\ t. guest and from the letters we have hfitl ‘ since then we know that the friendliness (‘1 Canadian hamlet has softened his ideas. problems and has made him a happier hur Yes. indeed, we live in great times full at for young and old! To conclude, I can on! the poet George Linnaeus Banks: I live t'o hail that season, By gifted minds foretold. When men shall live by reason. And not alone by gold: When man to man united. And every wrong thing rightcd. The whole world shall be llghlu‘ As Eden was of old. ways without comparison, then we will litr, a world at peace with itself, and read; 'llt‘? what could be the most thrilling age cw ‘i by Man. In short, now more than ever 1". . lllc} must learn to become citizens of the wtv In our house there are three children ‘ WA. SlX, and Eight years. And I feel, watching ‘ i day, that they are like blotters, absorbing WW POlmS, our attitudes and fears, and our Pic ‘ e or lack of them. So we are endeavouring ‘m‘ a" example for them. Last year we bought a globe map Cl ” “Ull‘l And althollgh there is a dent in the mid. -| W Atlantic Ocean, and a little blob of jam - l-iP-J-l- it unfolds a multitude of secrets for inquir ltltfitl‘ .tl lit-m unfit-"l L'ill: Perhaps living on a farm they have bencl living together with Europeans who hm» with us. We are amazed sometimes at the WW they have “km, and at the answers the} i.. \C WE HOME AND courith

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