OUR BABIES

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 52, 24 November 1928, Page 18

OUR BABIES

(By “Hygeia.”) Published under the auspices of the Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children (Plunket Society). “It is wiser to put up a fence at the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom.” WISE MANAGEMENT AFTER BABY DAYS. The following little article on the toddler’s ways appeared in a recent issue of the “Women’s Pictorial.” We think it may provide food for thought and some useful points for parents of small children, and so take the liberty of passing it on to our readers:—

MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF FREEDOM “As mothers know, I am a firm believer in discipline for baby from the earliest cradle days. By that I mean that, baby must be taught automatic ot- dience and must learn to respond to a regular rhythm, and not find that, by the power of the lungs, he can bring himself extra attention or other delights. But, while discipline is one side of the picture (and a very important side), and Yhile it is my belief that if obedience has not been taught by the second birthday it will be very, very hard for it ever to be taught, yet I would plead with mothers to give their children the maximum amount of freedom possible. ‘"Children are not small replicas of their mothers, nor are they miniature adults, and we must always beware of seeking to regulate their lives from an adult standpoint. Nothing is so likely to blight and spoil a budding personality as a too rigid and unimaginative authority. “Take the question of freedom in physical action. Almost incessant movement on the part of the pre-school child is both right and necessary. The law of growth and co-ordination of the muscles depends almost entirely on such movement, and every natural activity and impulse gives practice to the muscular and sensory systems, enabling them to develop to the full. “Any training which cuts across this natural law is both cruel and foolish. If you cannot have both flowers and children in your “back patch,” sacrifice the flowers. LEGITIMATE OUTLETS. ‘When legitimate outlets are provided for this activity, there will be no need for endless strings of “Dont’s” from morning to night, which are so wearing to both mother and child. The best outlay a mother can make is to erect in some way an outside shelter or veranda, to provide outdoor tables, chairs, ana sleeping places, and to install a large sand pile, while a see-saw and a box of wooden bricks are excellent outdoor equipment. With such simple arrangement the toddlers will be happy, healthy, and content, and the garden a far more radiant place than any number of flowers could ever make it.

“Even when activity is directed into some dangerous channel, it should not be sternly repressed, but merely redirected into an equally delightful but harmless one. All commands should be, as far as possible, positive not negative, and with a little imagination, many of the child’s natural desires can be legitimately satisfied. For instance, all children love playing with scissors, and there is no reason why round-topped, bluntish ones should not be provided, and the child carefully taught how to use them. “With regard to freedom of choice of action, experience shows that it is usually more kind to the child to allow this but rarely. A child has so little experience, and often takes life so seriously, that he will exhaust his supply of nervous energy in trying to decide for himself which of a two pleasures he would choose.

“To plan the day so that there is no hesitation will make for restfulness. “The wise mother will refrain from speaking until any plan that is in her mind is quite matured and settled, while undoubtedly the fewer changes which are made in the every-day routine the better it is for character and content. We should find such a routine boring, but a small child delights in law and order, and in frequent repetition—as any nursery storyteller can witness 1 EXAMPLE COUNTS. “When we come to the question of character and morals, the crux of the whole situation is the atmosphere which ■we ourselves are creating. Baby’s sharp eyes are ever watching and striving to imitate the beloved adult, and he can have no experience of any moral tone except that which is in his own home. Hence the importance of self-control in home life, and of being scrupulously careful in the choice of any deputy who is much with the child. Sometimes daddy, tired from the office, is a stumbling block to his little one, for it is useless to speak of the value of politeness, chivalry, cheerfulness, and so on if the man of the house lolls at table or permits himself to be grumpy or disagreeable. One of the most important of childish instincts is the longing “to be big,” and if virtues which are instilled into him are connected solely with the nursery, he will, sooner or later, desire to show his emancipation by practising the opposite. If virtues, however, are the adult things, and wilfulness, rebellion, untidiness, and so on, signs of babyhood, then we have a powerful incentive to help him to acquire the former and outgrow the latter.”

DECORATING CHILDREN’S CLOTHING. A quick and easy way to decorate a little girl’s dress or other garment is to stamp ii; with a pattern suitable for plain outlining and do the outlining with the sewing machine. There is a simple way in which this machine stitching may be done ornamentally. Stamp the pattern on the wrong instead of the right side of the material. Adjust the machine for an unusually long stitch. Put heavy silk thread, perhaps buttonhole silk, of some desirable colour, on the bobbin, and a contrasting colour of finer thread, which may be only cotton, on the spool. Then sew. with the right side of the material down, instead of in the usual way. This allows the heavy thread on the bobbin to lie flat on the material, while the finer thread crosses it at close intervals, displaying the two colours most attractively. On clothing requiring a daintier effect the bobbin thread should be of mercerised cotton instead of heavy silk. The colour of thread used in this kind of decoration depends on the colour of the material and upon individual taste, but it has been found that on white goods black thread on the spool and red, or blue, or orange, or whatever colour is liked, on the bobbin, is attractive, as is also the reversal of these colours; that is, heavy black on the bobbin and the spool cotton in some colour. The thread on the spool should be a vivid colour if used with black, otherwise it will not show up enough to look attractive. If a stamped design is not desired, one may use this ornamental stitchery only on the collar, cuffs, and for stitching the bottom hem. Use two or three lines of it, about one-eighth of an inch apart. i This work is as quick to do as is plain machine stitching, and it gives a touch of ornamentation even to the plainest of small garments. When making a very small child’s little undergarments, instead of facing or hemming the neck and armholes, roll the edges and overcast. To make it both strong and decorative do it in this way: Roll the edge and overcast with coloured thread toward the left, then, without breaking the thread, work back again. This makes the stitches cross and looks very dainty.