‘Child Care A Primary Concern’

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31206, 2 November 1966, Page 2

‘Child Care A Primary Concern’

The quality of civilisation could be judged by its concern for its children, Sir John Walsh, dean of the Dental School of the University of Otago, told a conference of the Plunket Society in Dunedin, last evening.

All adults shared the responsibility for the nurture of children. “Some people seem to think that this responsibility lies entirely with the parents, but this is only partly true,” he said. New Zealand was at the forefront of progress in human welfare. It was a welfare state.

“Some people claim that when the state provides, people lose initiative and become irresponsible or apathetic. New Zealand is a living proof that this is not true. Here voluntary organisations concerned with all aspects of human welfare flourish and prosper, and are well-support-ed by the people,” he said. A century ago, the battle to free children from exploitation and slavery had been fought and won. The right of all children to education had been recognised. It was surely significant that today, when primary education throughout the world was freely available to all, it was also compulsory. “Children have the right to education, to he persons, to be free, to become responsible educated citizens. This birthright transcends even rights that parents may think they have over their children,” said Sir John Walsh.

Many cries were coming from the great mass of humanity that fllled the underdeveloped countries. There were the cries for social justice, food, clothing, shelter, education, health and freedom. “Just as all men share these needs, so all men must combine their efforts to satisfy them. The day when men could progress by trampling down their weaker neighbours is finished,” he said.

“At last we are beginning to understand, to feel, to know that all men are linked together in a common destiny; that the way of progress is through co-operation. “We in New Zealand are learning to work with the Maori people. Their phrase for working together is “mahi tahi.” Another word just as important is “aroha.” The nearest translation of this is love, sacrificial Christian love.

“It is a policy of concern, or acceptance, and caring for one’s neighbour. Certainly in the atomic age we need the power of love, of men of goodwill, working together,” he said.

Sir John. Walsh said his travels had taught him one great truth. “All people are human. Remember that to err is human. People everywhere have the same human qualities of strength and weakness, of efficiency and inefficiency, of truth and error. No-one is perfect. We are all human and we all need each other."

A young mother was at “a teachable moment.” She wanted her baby to be per-

feet. When bom, she often examined it carefully for imperfections, and she would listen to the trained person who would teach her to bring up her child in the best way.

“We dentists,” he continued, “are grateful to the Plunket nurses who have taught so many mothers to give their babies fluoride tablets when a fluoridated water supply is not available. “We have seen the healthy mouths of the children who have had this benefit. I can now tell almost at a glance when a child has had fluoride since birth, and I have often said publicly that the Plunket nurse, through her unique ability to reach the young mother, has, in a way, been making a greater contribution towards dental health, in the prevention of dental disease, than the dentist himself busy working in his surgery all day,” he said.