CHILDREN'S HOME CONDITIONS

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1969, 28 January 1914, Page 4

CHILDREN'S HOME CONDITIONS

gj Fi —"Citizen" says that twenty minutes daily, tlin time now given to physical drill in our primary schools, is not sufficient, and thinks that i>.t least ono hour daily should be devoted to the subject. He. believes that by givinc more time to the training of tho body during school hours, the physique of nu'r face will bq improved. Wo must keep in mind that a child is a child, and should be treated as Mich. In every moment of freedom it is exercising its limbs—running and playing panics arc the lwst drill for the child. Still, we cannot deny the Carl that children hare ilwajs iadulged ia

this natural drill, and yet numbers of them grow up woak and p»uy. But it. is not by increasing the time devoted to drill that we crin remedy this.-'

■ A child presents itself it school.. . It has slopt in a , room with-, tho window shut, has breakfasted in a close room on tviiito bread and butter, a little jam and tea. Do you think it would benefit- this child to drill for an hour? The healthy, robust children coino from homes where they arc properly treated, ..the puny ones, that wo would benefit by drill, come from such homes as this.'.y In tho majority of homes tlie frtirfi night air is •shut out as if it won? poison. ■■ Frn-m hirth, tho children ? in these homes bre.ithe vitiated air. Our public places that children frequent—churches, picture halls, and many of our schools— are not sufficiently -ventilated. AVlien we remember that one person will vitiate 3000 cubic feet of air in one hour, wo can realise liow poisonons tho air must become in these- crowded buildings. We would have fewer weaklings if parents could be persuaded to let their children sleep in airy resoms. Perhaps many could be by Act of Parliament. The experiment would .certainly be worth trying. The children belong to the State, and it is tho duty af tho State to see that they ore properly cared for, not only, at school, but at home. i ' • ■ ' We are badly in need of a simple instrument that will test tho ■ air, nnd show us when it is unfit to breathe. Wore there such an instrument, it would be a simple matter to make our houses and publia buildings subject to the visit of air-testinjt inspectors. Then, an hour's flrill will not do much for the child that is badly Jed, On numbers of farms the children are given skim or separator milk; every drop of cream is made into butter, and tho.supply of butter kept for lioffle use is very limited. Egps may bo produced iii plenty, but the children seldom tasto one; add they are given white broad, when they might just as easily be given brown. Again, will drill fielp those children who are handicapped for. life through drink? One of the parents, or both/ may have takeit a little or a quantity; in either case, the child's system bears tlw brand, which nothing cart remove. In my opinion, twenty minutes s day is ampjo for drill; w> can do no good by inernasin.o: the t.imo, but we can benefit the child by bettering the homo life.—l am, etc., ' ■ A TEACHER,