Who is this person?

[LincolnToddFan]

(06-19-2014 08:09 PM)L Verge Wrote:  It makes one wonder if DISCIPLINE (and I am not referring to corporal punishment) was finally the key to breaking through into Tad's intellect... I am a firm believer that children need structure and meaningful guidance, especially if there is a learning disorder.

I could not agree more Laurie. As poignant as I find AL's love and attachment to his youngest son I don't think it was particularly healthy for a 12 year old to be carried off to bed like a toddler and also to be having his father or a nursemaid dress him in the morning. At the age of 12 a child is on the very brink of puberty, but you would never know it by reading a description of Lincoln's last months with Tad.

The assassination was a horrible blow for the kid, but it forced him to grow and mature in a way that I am not sure would have happened with his indulgent father on the scene.

"...When this war is over I tell my boy Tad that we will go back to the farm, where I was happier as a boy...than I am now; I tell him I will buy him a mule and a pony and he shall have a little cart and...a little garden..all his own." (Looking For Lincoln, Kunhardt, pg#160 hardcopy)

Haunting, sad and sweet all at once, that was his father's long term plan for Tad.

Eva, it appears "German discipline" is exactly what he needed and would never have gotten from his overly indulgent "Papa-day".