OUR BABIES.

Shannon News, 28 March 1924, Page 4

OUR BABIES.

(By Hygcia.)

THE NERVOUS CHILD.

In the present column I shall conclude the series of articles based on Dr.-Heator Cameron’s recent address in London dealing with what is called “The Nervous Child.” This type, of child is liable to cause great anxiety to his parents or guardians on account of waywardness and capi iciousness often manifesting itself in a sort of perverse contrariety acting in direct antithesis to what is desired. Such children are often very faddy with regard to their i‘oo<J, jwill only take what they like, and may vomit or refuse food altogether if pushed; in any way. Sometimes they are persistent bed-wetters. MAKING A SENSATION.

Dr. Cameron says of one •of his cases: "It was complained that when he lost his temper he rushed into his mother’s room and hurled the crucl,fix to the ground. I do not for a hxtonent believe such an act meant more than th e child divining that in this way he could make the biggest sensation in the case of his mother—a woman of strong religious feelings, vit is instructive to note that in the society of the servants his proceedings were different. He had discovered, I suppose accidentally, in his struggles with his nurse, that a sensation could always be produced if he pulled up her petticoats, high enough. The screams and the expostulations and laughter of the servants maa c him feel thoroughly important, and it was this device which exploited when in their company. His antipathy to religion with them was no longer evident.

“It might seem to conclude that acts of impiety .and acts ot indelicacy in a boy of six years of age implied a highly abnormal state of mind , and were the expression of deep-seated * and complex emotions and impulses. I have little, doub.t of the conclusions to which, an analyst of the school of Freud would be irresistibly driven! I believe-'. that, In reality, they? meant no more than that the management of an egotistical child, determined to assert himself, was at fault.” COMMENT.

Our own experience goes to confirm Dr Cameron’s contention that tn e abnormal manifestations in cases of this kind are/often engendered by the parents themsleves, and are not necessarily to be regarded as due to anything primarily wrong with the child.

Those in charge of the Mothercraf* Centre, in London, (run on New, Zealand lines) found that very commonly the parents were mainly at fault. The following illustration may be given:—• A husband and wife, in good ; circumstances brought their only child, a little girl between, three and four years of age, to the institution. The father was an officer, and the mother was a woman of good education —■ both wanted to do the best for their •child. The immediate cause of, distress was the discovery, on the part of the "little gii'l, that all she had to ao to command immediate attention; and to focus all interest on herself, was to stick her little fists into her abdomen and say, “Pec, pee.” ,Instantly she became the centre of everything, especially if the performance was sprung pn the unfortunate _ parents before a number of people in the drawing room, or in any such assemblage. What was at once apparent was tin* fact that both 'father and mother doted on the child —indeed, the mother admitted she had never been able to take her eyes oh her progeny from the time of birth, and her anxiety liad prevented her enjoying a moment of unalloyed happiness-ever since. The mother belonged to a class of women met with everywhere, but much more commonly in the Old World than in the colonies —they may best be described as “neurotic-gazers’^ It was pointed out to the parents* that they must learn to discipline themselves, and not get’ into a state of manifest distress whenever the child played up in any way. Asked whether it would not be possible for tlie little girl to be placed in firmer hands for a short time, and whether any .member of the family could bo induced to undertake the establishment of proper control, the mother said: “Oh, she never plays up* with grannie!” Tlie grandmother had actually offered to take the child in hand, and wanted to have her, but the % ‘parents had been unable to bring' themselves to face the ordeal of a temporary separation. Naturally, they were congratulated on having a sensible grandmother in the family, and were advised unequivocally to give the child over to her in the meantime. . “ . . Where no such sensible relation or friend is available,, and the parents are too weak and too deeply compromised to establish control and discipline themselves, the best tiling to do, in the iiftcrests of all concerned, is to : remove the child from tlie parental home and employ a thoroughly capable, skilled nurse to’ take charge, fo» the lime: being, so as to ensure control habits. 1 .

CONCLUSION OF DR CAMERON’S ADDRESS. In conclusion, Dr. Cameron said: “In tli e symptom which I have particularly chosen for analysis—that of the common refusal of food —it is easy to discern the part which the instinct of self-assertion (or making a sensation) may play. A little boy was brought to me. in a motor car. He was a striking example of this anorexia nervosa (nervous distaste for food). He had not seen the car since a visit paid to Ills grandfather three weeks before, when at the midday meal his refusal to eat had created consternation.

Clearly the recollection of the fray lad lived pleasantly in his memory, or, when the car came 1o Ihp door to bring him to me, thinking he was on ils way back to his grandfather, he

said at once: “Not eat my dinner, a sentence which at the time had no meaning" for his parents, hut to whlcii my experience afforded the clue. To understand the child, one must first understand the parent. The allpowerful influence proceeding from the parent must be utilised to strengthen, not to weaken, the child.