the attitude of parents who give money to their
children to go to the pictures in order to get them out of the way
without even bothering to look at the programme to see if it is a
suitable one for children.

Admittedly, parenthood, if it is not to end in disaster or the
fear of disaster, is a great responsibility. It involves a
continual struggle against harmful influences from outside. It
demands also parental interest in the activities of the children
and sometimes a measure of self-denial for the children's sake.
Wisdom and experience combine in suggesting to all parents that
they should guide their children, and not be governed by them.

Those who read this report might usefully ponder the question
whether the ever-increasing way in which responsibilities in
character building are being assumed by schools, libraries, clubs,
and many other organizations has not made parents less heedful of
their own personal responsibilities for the training of their
children.

While the Committee realizes that the care shown by some parents
for their children has proved to be inadequate, there are many
parents who are examples of what parents ought to be. Above all,
the Committee wishes to stress that parents should not suffer from
feelings of inadequacy owing to a spate of modern knowledge often
expressed in semi-technical terms. Parents should enjoy their
children, and this enjoyment will lead to increasing co-operation
within the family.

=(2) Absent Mothers and Fathers=

Many persons have expressed the opinion that sexual immorality among
young people arises, in part, from the fact that mothers are frequently
absent from their homes at times when their children need their care and
guidance.

Mothers who leave children to their own devices are in three categories:

(_a_) Nearly one-third of the delinquent children whose cases were
considered by the Committee belonged to homes where the mother
worked for wages. Another survey showed that, in a closely
populated area, 25 per cent of the mothers of pupils of a
post-primary school went out to work. Some mothers may need to
work; but many of them work in order to provide a higher standard
of living than can be enjoyed on the wages earned by their
husbands, or because they prefer the company at an office, shop,
or factory to the routine of domestic duties.

(_b_) The second category comprises those wives