THE PLUNKET SYSTEM.

Shannon News, 24 March 1925, Page 3

THE PLUNKET SYSTEM.

(By "Hygeia.") Dangerous Ages. The two periods in the life of children which should be safeguarded beyond others arc the first year of life and the period of puberty—.that is, between 11 and 14 or 15—this occurs earlier in girls than in boys. So much of our teaching is directed towards the care of the child in its first year—its period of greatest growth—that in this article we shall confine ourseh es to the p'eriod of puberty, when iigain there is normally very rapid growth and development. The following table shows the average increase in weight for boys and girls from birth to about 18 years, adapted from Donaldson. The average increase given takes place in a single year about the stated age.

From the above table it will be seen that in the first year after birth there" is a very great increase in weight; this falls off rapidly after the second year until puberty, which culminates in boys about 16 years (when 151 b may be gained i:i a single year) and in girls about 13, when the average gain is in a year. Yet it is just about these ages that school children ;ire striving strenuously to pass examinations entitling them to free places in secondary schools, or are going up for other examinations, besides taking part in the annual competitions. Luckily, for the most part, boys refuse to overstrain themselves, but girls are different, and they need to be specially watched over. If very keen they should be kept back —not urged on.

The following letter recently received from England is from a lady who is very much interested in all that pertains to the Will-being of the rising .generation. She- had attended a lecture delivered by M : ss J. B. N. Paterson, who assisted Sir Truby King when he conducted the Health Campaign throughout New Zealand in 1923, and who is now working in England and Scotland. Tie Letter. I must ask you for information about one thing Miss J'aterson said when lecturing at Kensington—she spoke of the danger of over-taxing the brain during the period between 10 and 13 years. I know of so many cases where this seems to apply. One dear little girl has died with positive nervous breakdown at 13 years. A mottr I know is alarmed at the nervous condition her little boy is in at 11 years. He was very much overworked last year (urged on by his mother) in order to pass from his small school into a liig preparatory. Another mother tells me her little girl, nearly 13, is working in her sleep every night, and this child I know was very much worried over her school work ail last year. It seems a p riod when a child is expected to work harder than ever before in order to pass from a small school to a bigg, r one. I must say the average small V iy safeguards himself by refusing to work too hard, but the conscientious cli Id, little girls in particular, appears to be doomed. Health and Education.

Complete heal li—good strong physical, mental, an-! moral health —is an acquisition moiv desirable than anything else, and therefore if the community were gu led by intelligence . . . .the attainment of complete health by all persons wiuld be the one object of all education :l systems.—Mr. T. C. Horsfall, in the Contemporary Eeview, March, 1906.

Boys. Girls. Age. increase in Age. increase in weigh t. weight. 1 year Ui Lb 1 year 13}lb 2 years SJb 2 years 7|-lb 3£ years 2'\ \b li years 2 lb (i years -i ib 6 years 31 lb Hi years " 4'. l-b 9 years 4 lb 10 years 15 lb 13 years 10*ib 181 years 5 lb 17 years 3 lb