A Word of Introduction In psychology, no man knows very much. The inner forces of human life are still largely hidden from us. Since Freud's genius made it alive, psychology has zone far; but it is still a new science, mapping out the coast of an un- known continent. Fifty years hence, psychologists will very likely smile at our ignorance of today. Since I left education and took up child psychology, I have had all sorts of children to deal with--incendiaries, thieves, liars, bed-wetters, and bad-tempered children. Years of intensive work in child training has convinced me that I know compara- tively little of the forces that motivate life. I am convinced, how- ever, that parents who have had to deal with only their own chil- dren know much less than I do. It is because I believe that a difficult child is nearly always made difficult by wrong treatment at home that I dare address parents. What is the province of psychology? I suggest the word cur- ing. But what kind of curing? I do not want to be cured of my habit of choosing the colors orange and black; nor do I want to be cured of smoking; nor of my liking for a bottle of beer. No teacher has the right to cure a child of making noises on a drum. The only curing that should be practiced is the curing of unhap- piness. The difficult child is the child who is unhappy. He is at war with himself; and in consequence, he is at war with the world. The difficult adult is in the same boat. No happy man ever disturbed a meeting, or preached a war, or lynched a Negro. No happy woman ever nagged her husband or her children. No -xxiii- |