What is Atticus's role in the children's relationship with Arthur (Boo) Radley in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird?

In Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus's primary role in his children's relationship to Arthur (Boo) Radley is to teach his children to treat Arthur respectfully.Atticus tries to get his children to treat Arthur respectfully by discouraging them from asking or talking about him. For instance, Scout informs us in her narration that any time Jem asks Atticus a question about the Radleys, "Atticus's only answer was for him to mind his...

In Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus's primary role in his children's relationship to Arthur (Boo) Radley is to teach his children to treat Arthur respectfully.

Atticus tries to get his children to treat Arthur respectfully by discouraging them from asking or talking about him. For instance, Scout informs us in her narration that any time Jem asks Atticus a question about the Radleys, "Atticus's only answer was for him to mind his own business and let the Radleys mind theirs, they had a right to" (Chapter 1). Another time, Scout's and Jem's curiosity piques when Atticus must go to the Radleys' to pay his respects and help with legal matters after Mrs. Radley's death. When Atticus returns and Scout asks if he has seen Arthur, all Scout receives in reply is a stern, "I did not" (Chapter 8). All these reactions show Atticus thinks it is disrespectful for the children to treat Arthur as a mere curiosity or circus sideshow, and wants to teach them to be respectful by not feeding their curiosity.

Atticus is also much more of a hands-off parent who prefers to allow his children to learn from their own mistakes. For that reason, Atticus does not come down on them very hard the summer they pull multiple antics to try to get a look at Arthur, even though Atticus is perfectly aware of what they are doing. Despite Atticus's quietness, Scout learns her lesson. By the time she enters third grade, she has come to realize how cruel she, Jem, and Dill were to bother Arthur. By the end of the story, she also knows that, despite their cruelty, Arthur reached out to the children in friendship in his quiet way, and Atticus is grateful for Arthur's protection of his children.