HEALTH NOTES

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 108, 28 July 1927, Page 9

HEALTH NOTES

SCHOOL CHILDREN LUNCHES AND RECEATION (Contributed by the Department of Health.) A great deal has been said and written during the last few years about diet, and knowledge as to food and feeding has been widely diffused. Still, as in most matters, attention to matter of detail which may appear small is really of great importance. As the majority of school children, at least of country school children, bring their lunch to school much may be done in connection with this meal to inculcate good habits, nutritional, and other. Of recent years a great advance has been made in the composition of these lunches; hunks of cake and bread and jam sandwiches are to a great extent in the minority, and a diversified assortment of fruit, vegetable, cheese, egg, and meat sandwiches is more frequently seen. Leaflets containing information as to the composition of school lunches are published by the Health Department and may be obtained from any head teacher on application. There is, however, still too much waste of good food in the playgrounds —an evidence either of unsuitable or of hastily “bolted” lunches, or, in some cases, of too great a supply. The preparing of lunches for a family every morning throws a strain on many a hard-worked mother, and one is not surprised that many adopt the easier plan of giving money, to buy lunches. This is a pity, as in most eases the money goes on unsuitable food. The time spent by a mother in preparing an •i.npetising lunch will be well repaid. SCHOOL LUNCHES As well as a nicely-prepared lunch, rest during eating and proper mastication are important. If quarter of an hour or more of the midday interval were set apart for lunch and the children given to understand that that time was sacred to eating and for nothing else, great good would result. The tendency to consume half the food supply at the forenoon playtime would be checked. There would also be less waste of good food. Seated quietly the child would masticate properly and give digestion its proper chance. If, in addition, a hot drink—particularly in the colder months—were made a routine part of the repast, the results of a happy meal would be seen in the increased vitality of the children. Though “play lunches” cannot be condemned entirely, as some children start for school after either a very early or even an insufficient breakfast, and it might be a hardship to keep them hungry, yet they should be generally discouraged, and setting apart a time strictly for lunch would automatically help toward this. To sum up—attention to detail in the matter of carefully preparing lunches at home, suitable in quantity and quality, setting apart a definite time for

a restful lunch, and the provision of a warm drink in cold weather, are small but important matters in improving the nutrition of our rising generation and of educating it in the values of diet, digestion, good manners, and avoidance of waste. GARDENS As a useful adjunct to the diet question, and as a healthy recreation, the keeping of gardens by children might be more encouraged. The nutritional value of vegetables cooked and uncooked is generally admitted, but in many country districts too little attention is paid to obtaining a constant supply of these. Iron, iodine, and other valuable nutritional assets, as well as vitamins, are present in vegetables. Besides root crops, such as onions, carrots, turnips, etc., many green vegetables may be grown in the winter months—spinach, silver beet, cabbage; in warmer districts lettuce, and in colder curly kail, brussel sprouts, etc. Children should be encouraged to have gardens of their own so that with a little help and counsel from the grownups the family might be kept in green vegetables all the year round. SWIMMING AND BATHING Another healthy form of exercise is that of swimming and bathing. During midsummer no better way of spending the hot hours of the day can be devised than by devoting them to bathing and to learning the art of swimming. Not only are the muscles of the body exercised thereby, but the breathing apparatus is developed and the skin with its myriads of fine pores and nerve endings is purified and toned up. The salt or fresh water inadvertently taken into nose or mouth acts as a douche to the mucous membranes of these cavities. Cases of enlarged tonsils and adenoidal growths are undoubtedly benefitted by the tonic effect of salt water. One lucky school known to the writer has a fine stream with bathing pool within a stone’s throw. To see the head teacher superintending the attempts of novices, and, along with an assistant, keeping a watchful eye on the scholars disporting themselves was a lesson in what can be done to teach this useful exercise. The happy hour ended with a demonstration at request to the older pupils of restoring animation to the apparently drowned. A suitable stream, pond, sea beach, or salt water bath within easy reach of a school affords an excellent opportunity of building up the health of the scholars.