CHILD WELFARE

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 255, 16 July 1918, Page 3

CHILD WELFARE

EFFECT OF HOME AND SOCIAL EDUCATION LECTURE BY MISS MYERS. d/li, intei .',f >5 and instructive address *"•" with the influence of home and IT }i° u lon V 1 ( ' hild lvelfar o was given l,y Miss Phoel* Myers last evenmg beforea meeting of (he Women's Council (Wellington branch). Ihe meeting was held in the Y.W.C.A building, Herbert Sbraet, and Miss England (president) presided. In discussing her subject, Miss Mvore wid that it was imperative that "I ho Home should bo of Iho right kind if the child was to receive Hie training (hat was lo fit him for life. For the first tew months of life tlio mother was tho child s world, and for the first few yeaira the house was the child's world. Uiinng this impressionable period the feeds of healtli or disease, physical, mental, and moral, were sown. But if any particular home had the best conditions it did not necessarily follow that the children of .that home were secure from evil influences, as where people lived in communities more or less congested the homo had to bo regarded as the unit of society, therefore home and society reacted on each other. Since the individual citizens, taken collectively, formed, the nation, and tho collection of inrtit ndual homes formed society, it followed I that the nation and society, to obtain j the beet results, must consist of individuals and homes whoso development had proceeded along right lines. For ages, continued Miss Myers, it had been held that the child only should be (aught its duty 16 its pnirsnts. Only reI cently, consequent on increased k'nowj ledge of biology and psychology, had itbeen realised that the parent owed an even greater duty to (he chil-.1, for whoso ; lifo he.was responsible. The home ex- < isted primarily for the sake of (ho child. i Up till about a century ago, when the i great industrial revolution occurred, tha' home was practically self-contained, and was a factory in which every member of flie household worked. To-day home- ; life appeared to be practically iion- | existent. If women were determined lo j reform the home so that it would bo i able to perform, its work in influencing I national lifo as it should, then they ) imist bo prepared to adapt it to modem conditions by enlarging 'its scope until I it embraced every subject that concernI ed the home—which meant every subject j iindfir, thu sun—and deal with it as man i did with his work. It had to cease to j be purely individual, arid become instead I all-embracing. The results of the in- ' efficiency of the home aud of social life were apparent everywhere, particularly in the children as revealed in. the reports of the medical inspectors of schools, I hospitals, health officers, etc., mid mere I strikingly in the reports <i the recruiting officers in tha early days of tho war, when 40 per cent, of the pick of our manhood were rejected for physical defects alone. Tho mental and moral defecls of our home and social conditions were seen in our various societies for the ameliora-tion-not the prevention-of the results ot those conditions, staled Miss Mvow. fcmeo these societies . applied themselves simply to 7 the effect, and not to the cause they were but multiplying the cases to be dealt with. If .-.„!,■' home lifo ami social conditions we're efficient they won d be, unnecessary. Dealing 'with the fundamentals of home life, Miss Myers stated that first of all i,, importance were the home-makers, for on their fitness for their work depended tho success of tho homes The nest important quivlihciition for this purpose was health in its threefold aspect-physical, .mental, and 'Tf: Mα, bnt llnt I( ' as( '. 'I'Sli ideals ot duty. Jhe various aspects of each am, their inter-relation were elaborated by the lecturer. *~ For the past 10 years girls had been educated on the same lines as boys; had taken the same examinations, but had not been prepared for life. 'For m c re t ian 20 years women had had Iho franchise, and were slill unrepresented in "Parliament. Examinations had been regarded us (ho end ol education, and they liau not produced efficiency because education had been narrowed' to the school and its work. If children were to lm prepared for lifo, and not merely lo pass examinations, or -,o be merely workore, home and social training must begin m infancy: must bo continuous and progressive. Tho remedy was to bo found in adopting a wider outlook- and extending the scope of the homo and making it include all the homes of the nation, aud so setting the idea of the ?ialional homo and , sludyiiig its welfare. ,AYe had to leach that even- citizen was responsible for all, and owed a duty to society and the Stale. The importance of the'home was now recognised in industry by tho introduction of welfare work.' Home conditions and liom.i plmosphcro had to bo taken into all insthitions. arid thus humanise, them. This was the work of womi<n. The (raining for This purpose liad_ to bcijin in'infancy, 'and must be carried on throughout life. Men and women were responsible" for dilTerent sections, and had approached the work from tho point of vie-v of tl:eir separate needs, and if we were to build soundly I his, fact should not be overlooked, lioth needed the fullest develonmen of I heir resources, and each would respect: the work of the other. A very hearty voto of thanks was passed lo Miss Myers at (he conclusion of <i very animated discussion upon several points raised by her lecture, , and also to the Y.W.C.A. for the loan of tho room.