Mothers’Aid

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 41, 12 November 1936, Page 6

Mothers’Aid

Experts’ Guidebook to Child Training and Health Problems

“The Mother’s Encyclopedia,” edited by Len Challoner (London: George Allen and Uuwin, Ltd).

XTEVER have the problems of raising and training children been approached so scientifically as they are to-day, never has the mother, in her harrassing work, been so assisted by books and experiments. Masses of information. however, tend to be ignored and the compilation of an encyclopedia, which collates and sifts the available material, will be welcomed by busy women who have not time themselves to search among piles of papers, articles and books for the answer to any particular question that may be troubling them for the moment.

The authors of “The Mother’s Encyclopedia” are all recognised authorities on the subjects with which they have dealt. They have attempted to

It is no accident that we so often speak of grace as languid. One of the first lessons the movie directors learned was that the actors must move to a slow, steady tempo. We move too fast. A graceful woman, a well-poised man never hurries, at least never give you the impression of haste, ft is the snatchers and jerkers who bump into the chairs and tip over (he water glasses. And it is the heelclicking trit-trotters who stumble up kerbstones and down unexpected steps. If you are inclined to be jerky practise moving to a slow and rhythmic gramophone record, preferably in waltz time. Or simply pace yourself off to a slow count.

answer a host of everyday questions like “How shall 1 stop Johnny whining?” and z “ls Alice old enough to dress herself?”; “Should I force Billy to eat?” Their method, however, is not that of the scientist working at an obscure treatise. They aim at a “friendly, simple approach showing, above all, why such and such a course is sound or otherwise, so that parents should judge the circumstances for themselves with authoritative knowledge at their elbow.”

The scope of the encyclopedia, which covers child training and health from the first year until college age, is too large for the articles to be other than businesslike and condensed. It is not the sort of volume that is meant to be read easily or at length, but as a compact book of reference it should be valuable in the home. The double index system makes it a simple matter to find one’s way about the 050 closewritten pages, and the sub-heads throughout the text are clear and explanatory. The mother who takes her job seriously will find this book a reassuring aud knowledgeable guide. —O.M.A. .