Household. HOW TO TRAIN A CHILD PHYSICALLY.

Waikato Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1550, 10 June 1882, Page 2 (Supplement)

Household.

HOW TO TRAIN A CHILD PHYSICALLY.

By a Family Doctob. In " CassiMi's I Magazinb." I

Thebr in no prettier sight, to our way of thinking, than that o£ three or four rosycheeked children at work on a hearty meal. Tee, I said " work," and I do not mean to correct myself, for if they be at all healthy,, and consequently not at all over-dainty,, and if they have had plenty of previous] exercise, and unstinted running (out of' doors), it will be no play, I assure you, butj a downright labour of love. So I call it a' ( Sretty eight, albeit there may be a good l eal of unscientific fencing, unnecessary; slopping and face-smudging. * ' But how often, during a banquet like*, this, do we not hear such remarks ?,s the following from an alarmed governess! — ' "Oh! Johnnie, the other hand, please,' the .other hand. How often, child, do I notrtell you that you must learn to eat} with your right hand P" Poor Johnnie hag not been very long. " on to" spoon-drill, and has been digging away indiscriminately, ere he attracted the gubernatorial eye, shifting the spoon from hand to hand, and doing equally grand execution with either. He now etarea at the governesß with round wondering eyes for a brief few seconds, trying perhaps to guess which is the right hand, or what harm the other hand has done, that it cannot be considered right as well as its neighbour. But dinner with him is far too serious a business to be interrupted by conversation, so he wastes no words, but goes on again ploddingly as before. Well, although the laws of society demand that we Bhould use both spoon and knife with the right hand, nevertheless poor Johnnies actions must not be put down entirely to awkwardness j and, with the exception probably of what I have called spoon-drill, a child should be taught to use both hands alike, and with equal facility — to be, in other words, ambidextrous. I have not space to enumerate the advantages a man or woman has, who is possesed of the power of ambidexterity. A person may study using the left hand as well as the right, in after-life, but he will never become so expert as if he had been used to it from his childhood. The physical development of children is very much neglected in this country. I would not have young people grow up as athletes, but I would have them possess tha amount of physical power which is compatible with good health and a sound constitution. Such a training is Bure to do them good service in some dire emergency, First and foremost then, do no expect your child to be capable of even ordinary training, unless he is in sound health, and unless he gets fair play in the momentous matters of cleanliness, good food, and fresh air. I will say » word about cleanliness first. We all remember the proverb anent it, and it ia » ttuo one. From their very earliest infanoy children should be kept cleanly, both in person and olotb.es, and as soon as they out toddle they should be taught to keep «t least their fingers dean. I shall not here nay anything physiologically about the benefits of oleanliness, and the health of the Bkin— l have done so in numerous articles — but merely say that no child can be healthy who retains effete matters in his blood or on his akin. The bath should be a daily and not a weekly or Saturday night affair in every family, and those who can afford it Bhould have a children's bath-room, under good supervision. ( For the water should neither be too hot nor too cold, but tepid, ana if the child asm bear it, almost cold. It ought to be taken in the morning befrre breahfast — it is ruinous putting a child ino the water after a full meal — the body ought to be immediately rubbed dry and dressed, and after this, but not before, the ohild may be encouraged to romp or play, but no romping during tan bath should bo permitted if i\ tends to keep him in the water longer than ii Deoessary for purposes of perfoot ablation, The noildoßt of plain soap should be QBed. I have known ohildren taught the art of swimming to some extent in a large bath. Children's clothes, as I have said before now, ought to be light, warm and easy. fitting; the feet should be kept warm by soft light oooks, end tbe head cool. Never sweat a child by hot-water bathing, by overclothing, nor in bis bed at night, unless you want to make him a hot-house plant, to grow up puny in body and feeble in mind. Out-door bathing for older children should be encouraged. Shade of my obildhood ! do I not remember those pre prandial plunges in tbe mountain streamlet, and the sosmper half-dressed along the banks that succeeded ! Exhilarating, healthful, glorious ! Whole armies of ohildren are orifioed annually in this country to the demon foul air. And the altars on whioh they are immolated are the schoolroom, the nursery, and the bed-room. The Government schoolroom is a great institution for developing the minds of obildren, bat— in many instances— woo is me for the health of their bodies ! Let no one returning from a long walk in the oountry enter one, or pass too near the door thereof, while the ohildren are at work. This evil could be easily remedied, however, by a prooeßS of scientific ventilation not dependent upon windows. The nursery ought to be kept the perfection of cleanliness j the floor should be of wood, uncarpeted, and scrubbed almost every day, and the air within should be as pure as that without. As to the child's bed-room or nightnursery, I almost despair to think of it, so seldom is it properly ventilated, and so often too small and stuffy. Mothers, pray think of this, for assuredly your child's future health, nay, his very lite depends more upon the air he breathes than on the food he eats. I may only summarise the rules of health aa regards the diet of children. Begin early, if the child be puny and weakly, to give a little strengthening pap, to which even a little beef -tea may be added with advantage. If, on the other hand, the child thrives well on the mother's milk, let it have that and nothing else till the careful time of weaning begins to approach. A3 soon as the teeth come, it is a sign that nature needs something more stimulating than milk. Very young and delicate children should only have the very lightest and most easily digested food, of an animal and vegetable kind in due proportion ; frequent change of food is desirable and necessary j feed regularly and give, it possible, no intermediate meals of cake and pudding, &c, At meal-times the ohild must be taught to eat slowly, and take little bits at a time; do not'leb him over-gorge ; give no wine, nor too much tea or coffee— -I would say none at all, only I feel I should not be obeyed— give nothing too hot j give ripe juicy fruits in season. Simple enough are these rules, and-pro-bably #je reader knew them all before ; but BimpW thoughp they be, they are seldom acted up to. x -All £ need-say about the sleep of infancy .and childhood is very brief.' When a child does not .sleep well, depend, .upon lit that his physical development is being re- , tarded t and if there be no actual disease, . thejeause islwant of attention to .proper food, cle&nJjneßS and exercise, ■ or * W%Vonftlat>ed apartment, with N ' orCwjthoul; .an ill-arrAnged; bed,, The rules,- then, to 'be observed in order to gain for children Bound refreshing sleep are, briefly as follows I— First, send them.early to bed; that is if you: .would' haveithem^poir. up strong, welldeveloped youthssand men. Nothing? can tfo )noreiinjurions,thah the habit of letting $ci» Bit up lak^mong fljejj elder* • *nii J

may" add that children's parties should never be prolonged beyond eight or halfpast eight. At the very best I do not approve of them; they are neither conducive to the health of the child nor to his future well-being. ! The Bleep » child requires is greater than that needed by an adnlt, bat still it should not be overdone. The quantity depends on tho age ; for a child of six, ten and a half hours would under ordinary circumstances be sufficient for needful repose. The bedroom should be large, clean, well-ventilated, kept at an equable temperature, « and dark. Night-lights are objectionable, and injurious in more ways than one. The air should be' ferj pore, and the bed-coverings light and warm. Now, if the hints I have already given iq this short -paper be adopted as a rule, the medioine-bottle in any shape or form need never find its way into the nursery cabinet A child whc is not dosed with phjsio usually grows into a man who seldom or never needs : it. ' ' I Exercise is the last butnot least important I portion of my subject to be treated, I suppose my first duty is to say a* word ox two about teaching children to walk ; ii may be said that all mothers know how to manage this perhaps, but they are often guilty of grave errors notwithstanding^ Nature in this respeot will not be forced; A young child's bones are soft and cartilaginous, and keeping a poor little thing tied up against a chair, when it ought to belying on its back kicking the air and strengthen ing its limbs, or crawling on the nursery floor, is positively injurious and sinful. It is done, I know, with the view of teaching it all the sooner to maintain' the erect attitude; but bent legs may be the result, and however strong a bent-legged man may be, he certainly does not look elegant. Let the child creep, then, and as soon as he finds that he can pull himself cautiously up, and stand by the side of a box, he will do so ; this is the only safe and natural process. Soon after this he will, if encouraged, venture upon what parents call the first step. Let him creep, and when he walks and falls, laugh at him ; unless you want to make the child an idiot, do not rush to pull him up. Children are not at all brittle, and they ought to learn at a very early age to depend upon the strength nature has endowed them with. Some nurses tie a band around a poor child's waist, and then shove him kicking and sprawling on befoie them, during which time the child looks as graceful as the golden lamb which hoßieis hang out as a sign. The practice is most injurious. As soon as children can run about they ought to be allowed to spend all the time possible in the open air, taking care not to let them get wet, and taking them home before nightfall. I have often made the remark that work is not exercise, that exercise to be beneficial must be congenial to the mind, as well as the body, and this ( is doubly true as regards children. Encourage them to play therefore and romp ad libitum,, and if possible find them companions of their own age. A boy brought up with only hie sisters as playmates will usually turn out a soft and selfish man. It is not a good thing to commence to teach a child to read too soon, but I beg humbly to difier from those who say they (flight to be taught nothing until they are six. fl?hey should read and write tolerably well by the time they are seven. Great men, with few if any exceptions, have welldeveloped heads and brains. As far as size goes, the brain cannot be developed after the sutures of the skull close, and size of brain has a deal more to do with cleverness than many imagine — mind and matter cannot be separated. But never let children Bit too long poring over their books ; ten to one they are but dreaming or dozing and doing no good, but only weakening their frames and bending their spines. Teach children to sit erect whether reading or sewing, but remember that 'they cannot keep ihemselves in anyone position long at a time, however graceful it may be. While play ia good, running races is, to many children, highly dangerous, owing to its tendency to produce congestion of the brain, to which the young ara far more liable than the old. The swing is a capital thing for enlarging the muscles of the arms and chest. It is a kind of exercise, too, that is both pleasurable and exhilarating. Rowing in boats is to be commended to older children. You may tell,me it is dangerous. Well, it teac he caution, and it exercises the muscles of the eyeball, and if you talk of danger I have my answer — teach, your child to swim. If I •wese to enumerate tne-half the benefits to be derived from the exercise of swimming this paper would be far too long. In al exercise beware of over-fatigue and overheating of the blood.