The CANCER Child...

The CANCER Child

Dear, dear, haw queer everything is today! And yesterday things went on just as
usual.

Write it down so you'll remember it and not be surprised every day of your life:
your Cancer baby will change his moods as frequently as you change his diaper. It's
a strange new world for the lunar infant. He'll be fascinated by delicious things to
eat and drink, and he'll love all the colorful pictures which pass before his sharp
little eyes, and impress themselves on his indelible memory. What he experiences
will never leave him. When he's old and gray, your Cancerian boy or girl will
remember every feeling and emotion, and be able to give it back as an exact image.

One of the dearest Cancerian women I ever knew was born in Europe, and when she
was ill, she would sing every word of the Russian lullabies she had heard as a child,
even though she came to America almost half a century ago. Most of us would be
lucky if we remembered the tune or words to "Rockabye Baby."

From breakfast until bedtime, the busy mind of the Cancerian child will be
recording what he sees and hears.

It's difficult for worldly adults to follow him up his Moon mountain of dreams or go
beside him as he wades in the streams of his luminous imagination. His emotions
are rich, colorful and varied, but for all that, he may be lonely.

Playing with lunar babies can be loads of fun. They're funny little creatures, with
droll expressions and eyes that almost talk by themselves. Their features constantly
eon-tort with tears, twist with a grimace or spread wide with smiles. It's interesting
to watch those elastic expressions, but you may frequently wish you could predict
when he's going to giggle, or get that faraway look in his eye as he listens to the
curious music every Moon child hears.

These youngsters have more emotional needs that Pisces boys and girls. Much

more
than with any other children, the strongest influence on Cancerians is always the




early home environment. From infancy through the teens, young crabs are
tremendously dependent on the reactions of their parents and their brothers and
sisters. Your lunar child may be too shy to express his real inner desires, but he
secretly wants to be made over, cuddled and adored. If he doesn't get attention and
approval from his family, relatives and friends, the rejection can simply crush him. I
have a close friend who was born in July. Late one night in her kitchen (where
else?), we were talking about her childhood.

She told me, "When I was a little girl in grade school, my parents gave me ten or
fifteen cents a week to spend. But I never spent it. I saved it, so I could give a
prize."

"For what?" I asked her.

A wistful look passed across her wonderfully mobile features. "Well, I used to offer
fifty cents at the end of each month to the friend who treated me the nicest."

At first I was amused, and started to remind her of all tfae candy and treats she had
missed by passing out her entire allowance for kind treatment, but something in her
eyes changed my mind.

Although your young Cancerian may briefly turn into a rebel without a cause in
adolescence, during his tender years the little crab is usually easy to manage and
discipline. His inner life is very real to him, and he'll happily play by himself for
many hours. He may even have an invisible playmate called something like Boris or
Betty, who helps him make mud pies, plant imaginary flowers or play cowboy and
Indian. The make-believe Boris or Betty are always well-behaved and courteous.
They will always let the Cancer youngster win, and they'll give in to his desire to be
a gentle leader without a murmur. Sometimes these imaginary playmates will
disappear for weeks at a time, but they'll return as soon as a real, live neighborhood
chum or schoolmate wounds those little lunar feelings or bosses the Moon child
around too much. As docile and quiet as most Cancerians are. Cancer is a cardinal
Sun sign of leadership. Despite their tender emotions and gentle manners, they are
not followers. There's a great deal of independent thinking and individualism.

If your offspring follows the pattern of most July children, he'll get his way and be
slightly spoiled around the edges. It's the squeaky hinge that gets the most oil. He
won't exactly squeak, but he can get mighty weepy when he's ignored or treated
harshly. Talk about tears! A Moon child can cry rivers and flood a room. It's as if
someone left the kitchen spigots running. If all that dampness doesn't get him the
tender sympathy he must have for healthy emotions, the little Cancerian boy or girl
will grow up into a dry-eyed adult with a barren heart, unable to give or receive love
easily-seeking solitude, forming very few warm friendships-and become a recluse in
old age.

When such a sensitive little crab is in your care, it's really urgent to laugh and cry
with him and to calm his fears. Hell have a whole passel of them. Your own. lunar




child may not have each one on the list, but he's sure to have quite a few. He can be
afraid to go to sleep in the dark without a soft night light, afraid of fire and matches,
afraid of fast cars and loud noises. He can fear strangers, large animals, bright
lights, food he's never tasted before, lightning and thunder.

Lots of young loony-birds get the blues when it rains. A spring or fall shower can do
strange things to the inner nature. It can make him suddenly want to write a poem,
paint a picture or make music. At other times, it can cause him to hide his frightened
little head under the bedspread, while his bottom half protrudes and trembles
visibly.

This child requires much emotional empathy to develop his fine, loving, artistic and
creative qualities. If it is given wholeheartedly in his formative years, it will help
him grow into a patient, generous, quietly confident and open-hearted adult. If
attentive understanding is denied him, his natural compassion and gentleness may
be warped and twisted into self-pity and bitter, silent brooding. Fear, unless coped
with early, can become illogical prejudice and hatred. Little crabs who have been
stunted in their emotional growth sometimes turn into suspicious snappers, often
revengeful and even suicidal. At best, these moody, unhappy men and women lead
sad, uneventful lives, unless they make a dramatic decision to bury themselves in
building a financial empire or developing a latent talent. Either one can mercifully
replace the love and affection withheld from the gentle lunar heart when it was the
most vulnerable -in childhood.

It can't be emphasized enough that these sensitive children can imagine hurts or
slights, and dream up a rejection which never existed. Special care has to be taken

to
convince them that they're good, smart, pretty, handsome, loved and wanted. Many
parents sense this, which is why lots of little crabs are pampered so much at home
that they get quite a shock as adults when they discover the world takes a cool,
disinterested view of their personal desires. No wonder so many Cancerians fondly
remember Mama and practically build a shrine to her as they grow older. No one
else will ever again care quite so much. The big question with a Moon child is
always whether to be overly firm and warp him, or overly permissive and spoil him.
Finding the middle road is never easy, and the problem can keep you up a few
nights. The keyword is: relax. Love usually finds the way. The best formula is a
good old-fashioned spanking when he needs it, with plenty of hugs and kisses and
lots of physical expressions of affection at all other times.

Teachers normally find the Cancerian boys and girls whizzes in history. They
seldom forget dates or events. That's because, thanks to their mirror-like sensitivity,
they can read about something that happened years ago, and almost believe they
were there. If Paul Revere, Thomas Jefferson, or Abraham Lincoln themselves
could return and tell their stories, they probably wouldn't be recounted with much
more color than the typical young Cancerian uses when he discusses the

happenings
of the dim and dusty past. It's as if they actually saw the Battle of Lex-ington, the
signing of the Declaration of Independence and the shot fired on Fort Sumter.
There's hardly a detail they can't imagine. It's easy to see why so many of these




sensitive boys and girls go on the stage, become creative photographers or follow a
distinguished career in music or art. Instructors of the young lunar mind may now
and then complain of stubbornness or daydreaming, but it's not often that either
failing becomes pronounced enough to be really troublesome. There may be some
exaggerating. The boy may describe the ordeal of being attacked in the woods by a
dangerous bear to explain some scratches caused by a fall from his own front porch.
The girl may give a sad recital of how she was locked out with no supper by cruel
parents, after what was only a mild argument with her family. But a few tall tales
can be expected when you consider the strong mental impressions created by
reading adventure stories with the lunar imagination. When there's real heartache,
instead of make-believe tragedy, the typical Cancerian child will normally remain
quiet and decline to speak about it. There's an old Chinese proverb: "He who is
really hurt-doesn't talk."

Like the Libran child, happy Cancerian youngsters can run up the family food bill to
fantastic proportions and soothing hurt feelings caused by the nickname Fatty is
common. If there's a lot of brooding or nervousness, the nickname may be Skinny.
It's best to bypass all nicknames with Moon children. They should never be teased.

Most young crabs look forward to working for pay, and they'll scour the
neighborhood for odd jobs. Your Cancer child will begin early to cut grass, sweep
leaves and babysit. He'll return bottles for refunds, help hang out the laundry, assist
the trash men, sell lemonade at the curb, or anything else he can think of that will
make his pockets jingle. The pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters-and finally the dollars
he makes will be carefully accounted for, and a good portion of them saved. After a
while, you may be able to save some yourself-on his allowance. He'll probably sup-
ply his own spending money sooner than other children, and be proud of it. You'll
find him easy on your pocket-book in many ways. These children often work their
way through college. The boys will have a healthy curiosity about the business
world. The girls will be efficient in cash matters, too, but they'll also spend lots of
time with their dolls and baking brownies, practicing for their future careers as
mothers.

The Cancer child will keep you amused with his jokes and his contagious laugh. He
can make funny faces that look like Halloween masks, and he sees the humor in
every facet of the human parade as it passes. Give him, if possible, a little plot of
earth he can call his own, where he can plant things with his green thumb and watch
them grow. He'll be tenderly concerned with relatives who are ill, financial
emergencies in the family, and the difficulties of his friends and neighbors. Lunar
youngsters love books about heroic people who braved hardships to do great

deeds,
and they'll be especially gentle and sympathetic with animals. But if they feel
cruelly treated themselves, they may pass on the cruelty, or rather, reflect it to

others
smaller than themselves in a sort of "kick the cat" progression. Young crabs can live
up to the name and be quite crabby, but such moods seldom last more than a few
hours, before they're replaced by a lovable loony grin.

As you turn off the lamps at bed time, you may wonder, as all parents do about a




day in the not too far distant future when the little head that keeps popping up "for
one more drink of water" will be missing. The house will be still then, and empty of
his alternating tears and laughter, after the funny, imaginative little crab crawls
away to raise his own family. Will he forget? Not if he was born in late June or July.
Years can go by, and he may sail on distant seas, but you can keep his bean bag-the
one he gave you that Saturday afternoon you quarreled-on his dresser. And you can
leave her rag doll in its place on the window seat. Your Moon child will come home
again ' many times throughout every tomorrow-to meet old memories and return to
the past. No matter how many miles separate him from yesterday, anywhere he lives
is always handy to home. Keep the cookie jar full