OUR BABIES

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 127, 22 February 1919, Page 5

OUR BABIES

IB* lUGEIA.I Published under tho auspices of tho Royal A T ew Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children. "It is wiser to put up a leiicis at ino top of a precipice than to Maintain ambulance at the bottom. The following article by DrKinft, issued as a leailet, lias just conic t hand. I am sure our readers will oo interested in it:— UNBOKN MOTHEIiS AMD THE rUTUKE, The only way to place ■ motherhood on a broad, sound, successful national n-vs is to ensure for those who are to be tl. mothers of the future nor:inal .il.ll oil w development of their whole * hout fancy, and to maintain this thiougnoui school life and adolescence. All extra hour a day de\oted to active enjoyable open-air, exercise and t-ion, taken out of timeuvhichl ivould otliei wise be spent confined in school J gicat reduction in tho periodic for examinations; less of ™° j l ' l ],f „ palace, no hampering corsets or_P' nchl B high-heeled boots, and more iesi a a sleep, -would work wonders for tlle generation. We must make sure that our girls grow up not only with we JJ'^7 P f?pi raiu'ds, but. also with .healthy, normal feel iugs and tendencies, associated \\itii sound, well-built bodies-bodies ui tiammelled and .activities ii" re s tr ' ctc ,, tl „,, bi 0 "| rational clothing, feet undef°rmcd, am internal organs regular and perfect in tno fulfilment of their natural junctions. Need for a Wholesome Outlook on Life. Tho sound mind in the sound body, and Tight aims unci, outlook on life, arc, n possible, even moro important for a giri than for a .boy—certainly more important from tho national point of.vipvr. training of its girls, no nation can -attorn to continue leaving the "heart out 01 account—the fostering of home-loving, domestic tendencies, love of little children, some knowledge of Uieir ways and the fascinating stages thev all go through in the normal evolution of boay, mind, and character. The winning, 111 attractive side of infancy should be presented to every girl during adolescence tho most plastic and impressionable period of her life as regards forming natural womanly and paternal tendencies and she should bo taught how to tend, handle, cherish, aud safeguard little children before she goes out into \ the world. On the other hand, it does not appear to the author desirable to enter into the special physiology of sex, beyond the noccssary hygienic and protective essentials, or to go minutely into those intimate features of motherhood • which are purely personal to the rao.ther .such, as details of breast-feeding, lhe focusing of undue attention on such •organs and functions tends to foster introspection aud self-consciousness. As regards suckling, the main thing for the adolescent girl to know'.is that natural feeding is the mother's duty and sacred privilege, aud tho baby's birthright. But girls are entitled to & little wholesome frankness as to life's values, purposes and prospects. Ab Mrs. A. If. D. Acland remarks in her admirable book on "Child Training": The idea that inuoccnce is the same as ignorance takes much killing. . . . A simplo and natural - comprehension of tho facts of life helps to bring young people through the perplexities which mußt some time or other assail them. A sound healthy, active body regular in all its functions, and a frank natural outlook 011 iife is not only best for girls who will be mothers—almost ensuring complete and perfect fulfilment of tho calls ol motherhood—but it is infinitely best for the health, stability, self-control, and staying-power of the girl who will remain siuglo and have to earn her living. AN AFTERMATH OF THE WAIt. One of the worst aftermaths of war will be the increased crop of inefticients 20 years hence, due to the wholesale abandonment of babies to artificial feeding who in normal times would have been nursed by their mothers. There is no, graver problem in "reconstruction" for society and our statesmen to solve. A nation built out of well-born, breast-fed babies, well reared and well trained, would be as successful and invincible in peace &b in war. apd tho mind and character of tho race would share the health and ennoblement of the body. ,