Life with Junior

Series

Series Name

The March of Time 13th Year

Issue

Issue No.

7

Date Released

1948

Length of issue (in feet)

1615

Stories in this Issue:

1. 1Life with Junior

Story

Story No. within this Issue

1 / 1

Summary

The March of Time synopsis: This latest March of Time, "Life with Junior" devotes itself to the problem of "What makes the small child tick?". In recent years, the film points out, educational methods have made the process of learning much less painful for youngsters than in the old days. In the more enlightened schools every effort is made to give them all possible scope in which to express and develop their own personal qualities of mind and temperament, their own aptitudes and abilities, with the result that children of outstanding intelligence often possess a far wider knowledge and even venture into fields of erudition well beyond those in which their olders feel at home. But the average child of today, despite his apparent sophistication, behaves basically as children have for generations.

The camera picks up a small boy of ten at the start of a typical day. He has already acquired that reluctance to get up in the morning which will probably remain with him for the rest of his life. The film follows him through his sketchy ablutions, for Junior devotes as little time and effort to unpleasant necessities as experience tells him he can get away with. Much more attention is given to the engrossing problem of how many treasures he can carry on his person, and, after a hurried breakfast, a dawdling trip to school provides an endless variety of activities to absorb the interest of a small boy. In all their play the young unconsciously exercise and continually develop their imagination. The almost universal addiction of American youngsters to the comics, and the blood-and-thunder radio programmes are a cause of serious alarm to some parents but, says the film, in many cases the chief effect is less upon the young than their long-suffering elders, and with the end of the day there descends upon the home that blessing whose fullness only a parent can really appreciate - peace and quiet. The second part of the film deals with the problem of the so-called "difficult" child - made so, more often than not, by the parents’ inept handling. Here the film shows something of the work done by the Child Study Association of America. Actual clinical studies are shown and commented upon, with the treatment indicated in two typical cases; a little boy who refuses to eat the right foods, and a little girl who feels that she has been supplanted in her mother’s affections by the newly-arrived baby brother. But beyond the problem of family life, children must also learn to fit themselves successfully into the social world of their playmates, which will help to prepare them for the job of life in the world of tomorrow. [Incomplete.]

Researcher Comments

This story was included in Vol.14 No.9 of the US edition.

Keywords

Food and cooking; Children; Domestic life

Written sources

The March of Time Promotional Material   Typed Notes, Used for synopsis

Credits:

Production Co.

Time Inc.