IMPORTANCE OF GAMES

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 910, 1 March 1930, Page 23

IMPORTANCE OF GAMES

CHILDREN REQUIRE BOTH EXERCISE AND REST GOOD PHYSICAL EXERCISES One of the primary needs of growing children is the exercise of the larger muscles of the body (says a paper contributed by the Department of Health). Active forms of exercise tend to strengthen all the muscles (including the heart), develop the brain, deepen and Increase the rate of respiration, induce the skin to perspire, and secure and maintain equilibrium. They are essential if proper benefit, is to be derived from food, if the digestive organs and the bowels are to be kept in good working order, if proper excretion through the kidnej’s, skin and lungs is to be ensured, and if nervous regulation of the body is to develop, states a publication on health education.

Hence the importance of the boy and girl actually playing games and not merely watching them: and his or her learning to swim, taking part in school sports, organised games, and active forms of recreation such as, country and other dances. Too many children at present, never acquire the habit of ; active exercise. | Recreation other than that obtained i by vigorous exercise, such as walks, j reading of books, visits to museums, art galleries or the zoo, concerts, cinema halls, etc., may have an important influence on health, beneficial or otherwise, according to circumstances. It should be remembered that, other things being equal, enjoyment has a wholesome tendency, and that for this reason children" should be encouraged to use such forms of recreation as they prefer provided that these are harmless to body, mind or spirit. They should at. the same time be encouraged to cultivate a taste for wholesome books and amusements. need for formal physical EXERCISES Active forms of free exercise of the kind referred to above should come first in the child’s physical training, but they need supplementing by the more regulated and systematic forms of physical exercises which play a j special part in the harmonious train- j ing of the body as a whole. Organised exercise leads to improvement in the j general physique, to the prevention or correction of faulty attitudes of the j body, to the acquirement and develop- : ment of habits of self-control, disci- j pline and quick response. Systematic physical exercises are a | valuable safeguard against danger from strain arising in the course of j the more violent forms of exercise, such as running or swimming; they are of particular value to the less ! robust children who may need to be warned against undue strain, especially in competition with their fellows. GOOD HABITS OF REST AND SLEEP

Many children need to be encouraged to acquire good habits of rest and sleep. The difficulties in the way of children getting a long night's rest may be very great in some households, but children can form the habit of shaping through much disturbance and noise, though it should be borne |n mind that sleep in quiet surroundings is more beneficial. One of the most important forms of health education is to get ingrained in the child’s consciousness that, “early to bed and a long night’s rest” is one of the essentials of good bodily and mental growth and fitness. Both by direct influence upon the child and through co-opera-tion with the parents the teacher should endeavour to secure that children up to 12 vears of age have at least 12 hours in bed every night, the younger children as much n« 11 hours: old'-:- boys and girls need at least in fours. Remember that in the ancient world it was taught that healthy sleep cometli of moderate eating.’’