Editorial August 19, 1944 Issue

Handling Juvenile and Adult Delinquency

John Randall Dunn

There is a French saying, "Children have more need of models than of critics." May this not be pondered well by twentieth-century parents and others when the question of so-called juvenile delinquency is so much to the fore?

The Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, writes in "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" (p. 261), "Too much cannot be done towards guarding and guiding well the germinating and inclining thought of childhood." Then she continues, "To mould aright the first impressions of innocence, aids in perpetuating purity and in unfolding the immortal model, man in His image and likeness." What thinking person can quarrel with this statement? The difficulty, of course, lies in not knowing how to translate this ideal into action.

How often do we hear parents despairingly admit their inability to cope with the problems of modern adolescence! Christian Science, in the language of Isaiah, bids us come and reason together on this moot question. Let the problem first be approached objectively. What has been the model before the disturbed youth? Has his thought been molded by the persuasive influence of a Christian home? Has he seen genuine Christian love lived in this home? Has he known parents who have been understanding friends and comrades? Has he felt the glow of childish pride in a father who ever stands for Principle, for that which is fine, clean, manly, and upright? Has he tasted the reverential love and respect for a mother who is unashamed to be "old-fashioned," grateful for hands and breath unstained by nicotine and a mind unshackled by alcohol?

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