OUR BABIES

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 74, 21 December 1918, Page 5

OUR BABIES

|'B'/ HIGEU.I Published under tho auspices of the Eoyal iN'ow Zealand Socipty for tho Health of Women and Ohildron. "It is wiser to put up a lencu at the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom." OHIIyD AVELFAKE CONFERENCE, SOUTH AFIfIOA.

Last week we made some extracts from (ho prceidiMitial address delivered by Her Excellency U<ly Buxtoii at the Cliilrt Wfltn'ro Coiil'urence held «t Joh&nncshiiri; in May. This week I jiurpose milking some extracts from a, jKipcr on ■'Mothorcraft, ,, by Dr. Lilian Aiißtin Kobuison. which «r.is re-ad at the conference. Dr. Lilian Hnliiiison is the medical superintendent of child welfare at Oauo Town. Mothcrcraft. "It is not so very lone ago—probably within the lifetime o£ many of ue-thnt. the claim of ;i woman who ha<l borne ie:i children and buried six to have thereby qualrfled herself to become u high prieutees of mothercruit was coußiacred uiiusßiilable. Of recent years, however, a new valuo has been sot. on the beginnings of life, and we no louccr regard a claim founded on such daia yvith any comiilaconey. U has been scienuflcally (lemonstrated that much of the wastage of in fant life can bo prevented by the spread of JinoivlertKo and the removal of conditions which are detrimental to a youug child's growth and development. "Under tho term "Mothercroft, , we may fitly include every activity that goes towards the production of & heiuthy, vigor, ous ba.by, and iv happy, normal child. This definition covers a wide area, and draws into tho raulis of our workers, politicians, and preachers, town councillors, and teachers, with social workers of all kinds.

The Home, the Foundation-stone. "Always keeping in our minds the home as tho t'ouuutuion-stoue oi our social fabric, we caaay to apjily to that home nil the pi'olcctivu and ucydoiiMoiilal forces with ivJiicii modern civilisation provides us. At the very outset of our work we lire confronted, with tiie firaveflt of all duestious: is Uiu fabric ui our ioun<i;i-tion-stoue, tliiß home round which we aro to build, Bound and reliable? Will the health and character of the father and mother eiisuro tho production of Healthy children and secure tho integrity of the home? One of the first essentials of mothercraft jb the preparation of tho futui'o home-makers, for their high responsibilities in the body politic. The Father. "Sir Arthur Jfewsholme, in writing of this subject, remarked that in our efforts lit securing child welfaro wo are too apt to neglect the father. Hβ considers that a new and useful sphere of labour is open to welfaro workers—that of giving instruction on tho privilege of fatherhood and its associated responsibilities, dwelling upon the moral as well as tho .pecuniary aid which the father must render in tho building up of the family. 'Why,' he asks, 'should not . addresseß on these and similar points bo given at men's meetings and clubs, tit Pleasant Sunday Afternoons, and eo forth? Thcsp suggestions, coming from euch an eminent authority as the Director of Public Health for Great Britain, deserve our careful consideration. There in no doubt that our past efforts in this direction have been all too exclusively concentrated on the mother, who is the more amenable partner of the firm, and has responded .to our efforts, if not with onthusiaem, at leaEt with docility. In respect to tho father our tentative advance.3 have for tho most part been met with suspicion, and with a 'haiids-oIT attitude, which has had a detcrront effect upon our'.crusade Nevertheless, tho father must be won over if wo aro to build well and truly for tho generations to come.

"llbthcrcraft as applied to the baby as the unit is makinpr rapid advances all over tho civilised world. Wo noto that in Great liritain, in spito 6f our enormous war bill, the aovcrnmont has supplied the lncaiia of extension of child welfaro work throughout, tho kingdom in a liberal spirit. Self-intereßt, no doubt, .has played a part in this policy. ■ If mi? nation is to survivo.the wastage of war it can only survive- -through its babies. Tho sacrifice of infant life in the past which has beon rightly described as one cf tho horrors of peace, will never again be tolerated by a community which lias passed through tho experiences of thia worldwide war.

Hero 111 South Africa the problem may not bo felt so acutely at tho present time, out it is none the less urgent. We, too shall be called upon to take our part in social reconstrnciion when tho war ia over ana ive must begin with our unit, tho baby. w oro i )a ,bir?B and better babies will bo wanted in tfio future than have been eujxphed in the past, and all the ettorts of mothercraft must Jjc directed to supplying this jjced.

The Two Cecal Enemies of Child Life. "There, aro two great enemies of cliild i VJ.'v 1 6tiuul a3 J'ons in the way of the child welfare workers, those of iouorauco and indifference. In other words the ilon t knows , «iul tho 'don't cares' of pur social community. The first class, the ■dont knows,' all the incw-rU eiiceu fathers aud mothers who have entered ui<pu the sreat task of hoinc-.-nakiiiß without any adoanatc preparation or knoirlcdßo. All those ienomnt mid wi\os mid nurses who possess so little knowledge of their craft that their patients lives ore endangered through tho application of this dancerous minimum" all tho interfering neighbours and aunts and Grandmothers who make up for S «£ scientific knowledge, by distracting sugsestionu of mischievous experiments- the iintrained purse, girls and num.. bow to v.hoia thy baby is entrusted' jor'Jong hours of the (toy m so many of ou!• Smith African homos. All these and ot E "Tho other clasn is a still mo-o formidable onc-that of the "don't cares'l fear we mwst Include amon ß st these 'many of our Government, representatives and many of our municipal ■members. Rome of our lcßißlation seems to be directed towards the annihilation of the child ra ,1 lei than its welfare; witness the liouor laws of tho Capo Province, overcrowding and the wholly imideniiato provision for sanitation and the disposal of refuse in. mSL muDlcip:Uiticß t!»roußhout South "If wo are to pursue «our vocation of mothercraft effectually, our efforts mist K/S 00 ** M»»*a« the destruction o SSo'r^^oUS' 80 to indicate