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writes : " The children go home and discuss what the school doctor has told them. Where the mother is difficult to reach the child is the convenient medium." Dr. Baker finds that " schoolchildren make a very interested audience, entirely different from adults." And, finally, Dr. A. Clark's experience is that " propaganda work amongst the children (the teachers being present) is of far greater value and importance than popular lectures." For my own part, Ido not hesitate to say that to visit a school and not find time to address the children is to neglect the most vitally important part of the work. The problem of how best to present the subject to the child, how to awaken and maintain his interest, and ensure that, what is taught is put into practice—this is a matter to which the serious attention of both school medical officers and school-teachers should bo specially directed. 1 have myself made a practice of giving a carefully planned talk on the essentials of healthy living to the children at all schools visited ; and several school medical officers also have made a special feature of this aspect of the, work. One soon discovers that correct answers to questions mean little in practice. The teaching must be lived, and to this end the children must be vitally interested. In the case of children from, say, five to seven, or eight years of age, a few of the most important practical matters of health are perhaps best presented in the form of a simple story or fairy-tale. For older children the rules of health may be effectively represented as the rules of a game with penalties - sooner or later, and in one form or another —for continued disregard of the. rules. Other useful methods arc to represent tho body as a machine which, like all machines, must bo cared for in certain ways and driven with skill ; or as a building which must be soundly built and for- which the best materials must be, selected. The application and practical truth of such health teaching must be. frequently impressed on the children by concrete examples. It is, moreover, important to encourage healthy living not so much with the idea of avoiding ill health but because; of tho joy arrd beauty of health, because of its essential rightness, its value in life. On account of the outstanding importance of this aspect of tho work and to give point to my remarks, I quote in full the statement of the " Rules of the Game of Health," which I have used as the basis of these health talks. The Rules or the Came of Health. 1. Take plenty of regular outdoor exercise—running, jumping, swimming, skipping, climbing, games, &o. 2. Live as much as possible in the open air and sunshine. Keep your windows open day and night as wide as the wind and weather will allow. 3. Go to lied early ; have ten or twelve hours of sound sleep with door and windows open. 4. Breathe through your nose ; keep your mouth elosed. 5. Have three meals daily ; do not cat between meals. 6. Eat slowly and chew thoroughly ; chew your food to a cream before swallowing. 7. Eat brown bread in preference to white : have it toasted or dried in the oven. Have two kinds of vegetables doily ; have green vegetables several times a week. Eat fruit at the end of every meal. Eat meat only once a day. Drink one or two cups of milk daily. 8. Avoid lollies, chocolates, biscuits, and cakes, especially between meals. Do not take much sugar. Avoid pickles and condiments. Do not, take much tinned food. !). Avoid tea, coffee, and tobacco while you are young. 10. Do not wear tight clothing or tight boots. Do not wear- too much clothing. 11. Always wash, your hands before eating; keep your finger-nails trimmed ami clean. Have a cold or cool bath every morning, followed by a brisk rub and exercise. Have a hot bath at least once a week. 12. Keep your mouth clean. Train your tongue to clear away all particles from your teeth after meals. Brush your teeth, especially after your evening meal. 13. Accustom your bowels to act regularly at least once a day; after' breakfast, is the best time. 14. Stand and walk erect; do not slouch. He upright in body and mind. Remember : IS you do not keep the Rules of the Came you will pay the penalty sooner or later in pain and ill health. Treat your body with respect, take a pride in being healthy, do your part in keeping the Rules of the Came and you will reap your reward in health, happiness, and enjoyment of life. I wish specially to thank Messrs. Whitcombe and Tombs for their generous offer to print an abbreviated form of these rules in the cover of school-books sold by their firm. The Responsibilities ok School-teachers, The efforts of tin; school medical staff in establishing a truer regard for the fundamentals of healthy living can of course be of little avail unless followed up actively and with sincerity by the school-teachers. The teachers have a continuous influence, on the children which in the long-run must count; for-much more than occasional visits by a school medical officer. While much, has been done by school medical officers towards establishing sounder teaching in the schools of their districts, it must be recognized that the responsibilities of teachers in regard to the subject of health require to be clearly defined by the central authorities and the whole matter put on a satisfactory official basis. The entire machinery of education must recognize health as the first and most; fundamental subject in the curriculum, and full credit in the grading system should be given to teachers for their efforts in this direction. With this objeet a supplement to the syllabus has been prepared which the Director of Education has promised to issue. Health Week Letters to School-children. In connection with the Health Week activities, a set of health letters was prepared in Christchurch by Drs. Baker and Phillipps, and later in Wellington by myself, and read by the teachers to tho children of the upper standards. These letters were much appreciated by the teachers as a basis for their health teaching in the schools, arid the Wellington letters have since been amplified with a view to their publication.

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