If we have rightly used the years before puberty
and have ripened and enlarged his appreciation for
bojrs and men and for manly interests and ambi-
tions, there is no great danger that he will entirely
give up these masculine likings because of the new
attractions and affections. It would be as dis-
astrous for him to lose these old devotions as not
to discover the new.
The Problem of Apolescence

Our problem then at this important time is three-
fold.
I. To continue to enrich and enlarge his con-



83 THE FATHER AND HIS BOY

ception of true manliness by vigorous relations
mth wholesome boys and men;

2. To help him get beyond the mere boy-loving
stage and to imderstand and appreciate the new
devotion for girls and the relations that grow nor-
mally out of it;

3. To apply his growing manly standards of
strength, fairness, and honor to all these interesting
problems both of the boy and the girl.
You and his mother are now ready to reap some
of the fruits of the wise training and attitude of
all the former years. There is coming to him now
through his admiration for girls, if he is fortunate
in the selection of his friends, just the emotional
incentives which are needed to make his strength
and knowledge really moral, social, and human.
