SCHOOL CHILDREN’S HEALTH.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2316, 16 August 1921, Page 3

SCHOOL CHILDREN’S HEALTH.

Some remarks <>n what is good and wliat is not good for children in school were made by Mr 11. E. Longworth (Director of Physical Education) in answering a question after 'his address to teachers at New Plymouth on Thursday of last week. There was certain furniture in the -schools which he would say perhaps was not desirable, but the best had to he made of it. It was wrong to make children fold their arms at the desk; folded behind would he all right if the children did not tire and droop forward in consequence. To sit with the hands in the lap was perhaps the best attitude. A child could not “sit up straight” all the time. During a long lesson it was better to let the children rest their elbows on the desks than-to make them fold their arms. The speaker also advocated the giving of corrective exercises every quarter-hour in a long lesson, the exercise to he such as sitting up straight and seeing how high the' head could be raised. A tendency to chuckle on the part of some of the teachers was noticeable when Mr Longworth told a questioner that it would be a good idea for the children in the infant department to bring a mat with them, and be allowed to lie down at times. Mr Longworth was quite serious, however.