Prohibitions are almost useless.  In order to convince yourself of this, get some one to command you not to move your right arm or to wink your eye.  You will find it almost impossible to obey for even a few moments.  The desire to move your arm, which was not at all conscious before, will become overpowering.  The prohibition acts like a suggestion, and is an implication that you would do the negative act unless you were commanded not to.  Miss Alcott, in “Little Men,” well illustrates this fact in the story of the children who were told not to put beans up their noses and who straightway filled their noses with beans.

[Sidenote:  Positive Commands]

As we shall see in the next section, Froebel meets this difficulty by substituting positive commands for prohibitions; that is, he tells the child to do instead of telling him not to do.  Tiedemann[E] says that example is the first great evolutionary teacher, and liberty is the second.  In the overcoming of disobedience, no other teachers are needed.  The method may be tedious; it may be many years before the erratic will is finally led to work in orderly channels; but there is no possibility of abridging the process.  There is no short and sudden cure for disobedience, and the only hope for final cure is the steady working of these two great forces, example and liberty.

To illustrate the principles already indicated, we will consider some specific problems together with suggestive treatment for each.

[Footnote A:  Jean Paul Richter, “Der einsige.”  German writer and philosopher.  His rather whimsical and fragmentary book on education, called “Levana,” contains some rare scraps of wisdom much used by later writers on educational topics.]

[Footnote B:  Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher and Scientist.  His book on “Education” is sound and practical.]

[Footnote C:  Freidrich Froebel, German Philosopher and Educator, founder of the Kindergarten system, and inaugurator of the new education.  His two great books are “The Education of Man” and “The Mother Play.”]

[Footnote D:  “The Ordeal of Richard Feveril,” by George Meredith.]

[Footnote E:  Tiedemann, German Psychologist.]

QUICK TEMPER.

This, as well as irritability and nervousness, very often springs from a wrong physical condition.  The digestion may be bad, or the child may be overstimulated.  He may not be sleeping enough, or may not get enough outdoor air and exercise.  In some cases the fault appears because the child lacks the discipline of young companionship.  Even the most exemplary adult cannot make up to the child for the influence of other children.  He perceives the difference between himself and these giants about him, and the perception sometimes makes him furious.  His struggling individuality finds it difficult to maintain itself under the pressure of so many stronger personalities.  He makes, therefore, spasmodic and violent attempts of self-assertion, and these attempts go under the name of fits of temper.