Children - Teaching Truth : Part 6

The Mother and Her Child
by William S. Sadler, M.D., Lena K. Sadler, M.D.

(Page 45 of 45)

Ten Possible Causes of Secret Vice

1. The attention of the little folks is often drawn to the organs by a sensation of itching which accompanies a state of not cleanliness and filth. The genitals must be kept scrupulously clean. Elsewhere in this book we paid our respects to the rubber diaper, and we wish to reiterate at this time that it is in all probability responsible for a great deal of masturbation. The constant moisture and heat keeps the genital organs in a state of congestion which is more or less accompanied by itching sensations.

2. A long or tight foreskin in the male child favors the accumulation of secretions which not only occasion itching sensations but oftentimes are the cause of convulsions in early infancy. In the case of the female, a tight foreskin over the clitoris will retain secretions which also cause an itching sensation.

3. Unscrupulous nurses sometimes actually teach these little fellows to masturbate.

4. Lying in bed on the back with a full bladder, in the case of the boy, often produces an erection of the penis, and this is usually accompanied by a feeling of fullness which serves to direct the mind to the genital organs.

5. Lying in bed alone with nothing to do but to investigate often results in secret vice.

6. The unwise practice of allowing children to visit each other over night and sleep together, is often productive of mischief.

7. Constantly telling a little girl to keep her feet down, to keep her dress down, makes her over conscious of gender and otherwise causes the attention to be directed in unhealthy channels.

8. Teasing a child unnecessarily about a little sweetheart often produces an emotional reaction which is not altogether desirable. These suggestions are especially bad in the older children.

9. Unwise knowledge is usually productive of curious investigations, which if not properly followed up, particularly in those children who are temperamentally secretive, and who do not fully confide in mother and father, often results in moral misdemeanors.

10. Do not allow two young children habitually to isolate themselves in their play. Direct their play away from the attic, the basement, and other places remote from direct observation.

There is no use telling a child not to touch that part of his body, particularly if it is a boy, for it is going to be absolutely impossible for him to carry out such instructions. One mother overheard her caretaker say, "Don't put your hand there, it isn't nice." Immediately the wise mother called the caretaker to her and reminded her that most children usually continue to investigate even though they are told not to, and so the caretaker received this instruction: "When you see Harry putting his hand to that particular part of his body, just gently draw it away and divert his attention to something else, and when he goes to sleep in his little bed teach him to lie on his side and bring his little hands up under his chin or the side of his face and remain near him telling him a beautiful story until the eyes begin to get sleepy and pick him up immediately on awaking in the morning."

This mother was quite unlike the mother who once came to my office, saying: "Doctor Lena, I have done everything to prevent my boy's handling himself, why every time he wakes up at night I am always awake and I instantly say to him, Charlie where are your hands? You see Doctor, I am doing the best I know how." Very likely it is unnecessary to call the attention of the reader to the fact that this mother was doing more harm than good in constantly calling his attention to the fact that he did have a sexual side to his nature.

Truth vs. Exaggeration

And just here let us add that while masturbation is an unclean habit, an impure habit, and a thing altogether to be shunned, we would not be honest to ourselves and to our readers if we did not explain that under no circumstances does it make foolish minds out of sound minds or insane minds out of sane minds. If your boy or your girl is going to grow up to be foolish or insane he had a through ticket for the feebleminded institution or the insane asylum when he was born into the world. The time when masturbation does affect the mind of the child is when the mind awakens to the fact that it is allowing an abnormal, unclean, or filthy habit to dominate mind, soul, and body, and then, and usually not until then, does this bad habit begin to cause mental depression and a host of other symptoms that so often accompany masturbation.

In our worthy efforts to combat the evils of secret vice let us not go to the other extreme and create such a condition of mind in the youth of our generation as to lay the foundation for neurasthenia later on in life, as a result of the protracted worry, constant brooding, and conscientious condemnation, which they so often experience following some brief or trivial indulgence in early secret vice. Let us fight this vice with the truth, and not resort to over-exaggerated pictures which can only serve to blight the hopes and destroy the courage of over-sensitive boys and girls after they have grown up - as they look back on their lives and recall perhaps a single misstep in their childhood. In this way we can hope to do good today without mortgaging the child's happiness and mental peace in years to come.

About the Author

Dr. William S. Sadler M.D. was a well-known American psychiatrist and college teacher in the school of medicine at the University of Chicago. For over sixty years he practiced his profession in Chicago, thirty-three years being associated in practice with his wife, Dr Lena Kellogg Sadler. The doctors were pioneers in the research on the mysterious Urantia Papers.