INTERNATIONAL CHILD AND YOUTH CARE NETWORK

28 JUNE 2000
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An extract from the book Towards Self-Discipline: As Part of Growth to Maturity written by F.G. Lennhoff and John Lampen (1975) based on their work at Shotton Hall, a residential treatment centre in England.

The inherent discipline of crafts and activities

Residential workers find that a guiding principle of caring for children at unstructured times is not only to see what they are doing, but to provide the reassurance of their adult presence which conveys to the children that "Things won't go wrong", helping the youngsters to master their own more negative urges, and sharing constructive activities with them.

An important part of this schooling in self-discipline is the experience of activities which impose their own natural disciplines. This applies to many forms of play, and particularly games and sports. Even a game of cards or dominoes implies the disciplines of waiting one's turn, of accepting the rules, and accepting the chance of how the cards are dealt. Games of contest such as football set much greater challenges; on one side the demands of contributing to the team, sharing and co-operating, and keeping going in spite of tiredness; and on the other side the control of the aggressive feelings which are aroused towards one's opponents. Several of our boys have told us at different times that they cannot play football because they are afraid that they could not find the necessary self-control — and then it is a sign of increasing self-restraint and confidence when we later see them join in.

Many hobbies, school projects, craftwork and art, provide different opportunities to find success by accepting limits and restrictions which can be turned to advantage. Materials such as paint, wood, clay, metal and fabric have their inherent qualities and limits, and it is by learning to work within these limits and with these qualities that the person can satisfy his creativity and express himself. It is therefore a matter of accepting the discipline of the material and the craft. As Katie Jackson said at a recent Conference which we organised :

" ... Next I would put recognising the disciplines inherent in crafts. I do not think we use these enough. We use far too much the discipline of our own personalities (or the school's structure) to tell children to do this or that. If we allow children to discover that the discipline of any craft is a thing to be respected, they thereby grow. This discipline is inherent in arts sciences, crafts, sports, and if you get to the stage of enjoying the discipline of a craft, you also find that different people, different crafts, different fields of experience, have got their own particular and special qualities which add to your enjoyment of life, as child or adult.

I found that I saw people as craftsmen — as good or bad craftsmen. I saw that a craftsman was good if he respected tools, the materials which he uses or moulds, or commitments which it would be out of character for him to break; a criticism craftsmen use is 'It's out of true'. In short, he was a good craftsman because he was a good person. A good psychologist or a good teacher, to my mind, is good because he knows his trade, and can communicate with people, and is a good person. Being a good person I equate with self-discipline, with subject-discipline (in allowing his subject to discipline him), and with a guiding purpose. And I think a lot of people today feel they are flotsam and jetsam; they are unguided and bewildered. But the goodness which I find in so many people includes concern with others — a good doctor is good not so much because of his medical skill as because he is concerned with the problem in front of him."

We wrote in an earlier book, From Play to Work, about some of the ways our school and other settings had made use of the discipline "inherent in arts, sciences, crafts, sports". Without repeating the same material, we would like to consider this in relation to some youngsters whose capacity for self-discipline has been in some way impaired. 

“The encounter with genuine risks, and the challenge to take their measure and master them, if successful, offers reassurance that the youngster is a positive and worthwhile person.”

One of these could be the solitary teenager whose real-life identifications are limited, and whose contacts with parents and peers are inadequate, who may come into danger through over-identifying with fantasy-figures and struggling to contain angry and despairing feelings which do not have regular outlet. Often such teenagers feel inadequate at team sports and group activities: and these may not provide the element of challenging danger ("tempting fate") which they need. One might introduce these youngsters to activities such as sailing or mountaineering which do offer risks; teaching them at the same time to take a pride in developing the skills to "take on" the mountains or the water and win — skills which include vital elements of preparation and precaution, and responsible planning far adventure. This can be seen as letting them find a form of play that helps them at the level they need. The encounter with genuine risks, and the challenge to take their measure and master them, if successful, offers reassurance that the youngster is a positive and worthwhile person. Surmounting the difficulties seems to reduce or even drain away the tension and aggression, as many of us find who need a stiff walk, a hard game of table-tennis, or some similar outlet, to rid ourselves of unpleasant feelings.

A boy or girl who has few controls over their behaviour and resents those which other people try to impose, may discover some particular skill, perhaps in woodwork, painting, making toys or repairing engines. A skilled adult, working with them and helping them to develop this ability, will be making demands whose sense is often but not always obvious, but which are soon justified by their results. At first it is not clear why a sawcut should be made in one direction rather than another, why a figure should be sketched before being transferred to the final design of a picture, or why an engine should be dismantled in one order rather than another. But experience soon shows that it is wise to listen to advice, and that if one tries to be independent, one usually ends up much more dependent on the adult to straighten up the mess or avert disaster.

“His reliability in the practical things they have done together gives him the right to make this offer.”

In this way one shares experiences and perhaps for the first time discovers value in the restraints which someone else wants one to accept. It may be a long while before the willingness to adopt these restraints comes; but when it does it is reinforced by success, and proves the value of some self-discipline. If the guiding adult has the skill (and the strength to weather the ups and downs, and periods of the youngster's testing out) this guidance can gradually transfer to the sphere of behaviour and attitudes towards others. The youngster may begin to feel "I'm always doing things that get me into trouble; I wonder what Jim thinks about my behaviour?" When the adult catches this feeling, he may approach this subject in conversation while they are working. In this case he will probably throw out one or two suggestions in the same definite but unemotional way that he advises on their usual interests. Or he may pick on one of the recurrent crises in the youngster's life, when he is too miserable to work properly, and take this opportunity to go deeper, showing his concern for the youngster's unhappiness and offering his support in the steps ahead which may at times be painful. His reliability in the practical things they have done together gives him the right to make this offer.

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