Judge Cogswell Lists Major Points in Rearing Children

It is not “coincidence” without reality, that 85 percent of child delinquency cases come from families without church connections, Judge Glenn Cogswell told members of High Twelve Club at their weekly luncheon at Hotel Jayhawk (Aug. 26, 1953).

Making home and church, combined, the center of family life, he listed as one of five major points in rearing children. Four other “rules” for successful parenthood:

1. Parents should set children a good example.

2. See that their emotional needs – craving for love, affection, understanding, as well as physical needs, are met. “It’s not enough just to feed and clothe them.”

3. Discipline – not too much, but just as certainly not too little, or none at all. Undisciplined children face a tough time in the world into which some day they must emerge on their own.

4. Love your children, and let them know it. “That doesn’t mean pampering them; it does mean just what I said, love them and let them know it and feel it.”

“I know it’s trite and you may feel the expression is overworked,” said Judge Cogswell, “but I feel strongly that most of the time it is parental delinquency, rather than juvenile delinquency, that comes to our attention.
“Neither do I feel that we are rearing a ‘lost generation’ as some pessimists assert. But there has been an increase in delinquency. The national Children’s Bureau reports a 17 percent increase in court cases in the three-year period ending in fiscal year 1951. Of course, there had been an increase of 5 percent in child population in the same period. So there is a problem.”

From his own experience in handling delinquency cases, part of the duty of the probate courts in Kansas, Judge Cogswell reports that about one-third of the cases coming to him are really cases of delinquency; two-thirds are cases of dependency and neglect. The Shawnee County record, past five years: 89 cases in fiscal 1949; 91 in 1950; 56 in 1951; 37 in 1952; 99 in fiscal year ending last June30.

“The fact that official records show Shawnee with only one-eighth as many cases of juvenile delinquency as Sedgwick does not indicate there is that much real difference,” he said. “We handle many cases informally, without bringing them formally into court records. That may account for part of the difference. And there are other factors.”