At fifteen years old a new condition arises in the life of the child.
At this time the race condition and the individual condition are
at war. It is at the beginning of this period that an unbridled,
untrained youth may take his first step toward crime, simply because
the primary ego in him has not been set toward the background by the
lessons of his duty toward the rights of others. Here it is that the
heedless, ignorant parents may come to the first realization of what
his own sins of omission have been.
If for any of the reasons suggested a youth's parents have not given
him this necessary training in recognition of the rights of others,
the age brings with it a condition making it impossible in ordinary
cases for the parental conscience and home environment to avail.
[Illustration: (DO IT NOW scenario)]
For example, the fact that the boy becomes a thief, or burglar,
indicates in any or many things that disregard for the rights of
others which is destructive to all law and order. Properly handled in
the home he would have been amenable to all of these conditions.
Raise the child like a plant, care for it as you do for the rarest
specimen of vegetation, bring it up in an atmosphere of love. Child
raising and plant development are akin.
If the child has but the smallest trace of some characteristic you
desire to develop, take hold of it, care for it, surround it with
proper conditions and it will change more certainly and readily than
any plant quality.