A CHECK ON BAD HABITS

NZ Truth, Issue 1263, 13 February 1930, Page 20

A CHECK ON BAD HABITS

Train When Mould Is Plastic

(Plunket Society Article, No. 33.) YJT/-E have been asked from time to time to deal with the question of bad habits m small children, and hope the remarks and suggestions we publish here may be of. use. Bad habits, if allowed to become firmly established m babyhood or. early childhood, are often extremely difficult to 1 break, and even though broken, may /recur m later life. Hence the supreme importance of forming the baby's character and habits on the right lines from the start and checking any departures from the normal immediately. It is interesting to consider the manner m which habits are formed m infancy and childhood. One might say that an action performed once makes a faint pattern on the soft, plastic material of the baby's nervous system. This pattern makes it easier for the same action to be repeated again. Each repetition deepens the pattern until a definite habit Is formed — bad habits as easily as good ones. Whilst the pattern is still but shallow, as it were, and the mould plastio, it is easy to check the fprmaiion Qf a nablt. erase the pattern, or substitute a, good for a bad' one; but every day tKSX a habit is persisted m makes it a harder and more painful process to change ii. Hence the paramount importance of care m seeing that the child forms as far as possible only good habits, and of constant watchfulness to detect and check any undesirable tendencies. "We all know that even *o apparently harmless a habit as sucking of lingers or thumb may lead ft much trouble and many tears lat«* if s allowed to become fixed and deep-: rooted. In many cases of deeply-rooted and intractable bad habits a stay away from home with understanding 1 people is invaluable, or even essential as an aid to treatment. So often the overanxious, love and anxiety of the mother causes an emotional concentration on the child and his trouble which la a sad bar to progress. Sometimes loneliness, boredom, or neglect may lead the child to seek comfort m bad habits, and the possibility of some abnormal state m hits surroundings should be thought of anfl faced if necessary. It is the nervous, unstable children who are specially liable to become th^ victims of bad habits, and poor nutrition, mismanagement, spoiling, or erratic treatment are the leading causes of nervousness and instability.. . . _.__.^ Thus we have the key to the underlying general treatment in> all such cases. Build up the general health with good food, siiited to the child's digestion, regularity m all things, abundance of vigorous exercise, and the healthy stimulation of- outdoor air, sunshine, and cool water.