HEALTH NOTES

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 60, 12 March 1927, Page 17

HEALTH NOTES

PKE-SCHOOL CHILD

CARE OF ITS HEALTH

(Contributed by the Department of

Health.)

In every work the beginning is the most important, especially in dealing with anything young and tender. —Socrates. There is profound wisdom underlying this observation of the great philosopher, for the health, happiness, and efficiency of men and women depend to a large extent upon care and training during early life, and it is during infancy and childhood that those life habits are formed which are responsible for health, character, and personality. Since so much depends upon our knowledge of the fundamental requirements of. early childhood it is most necessary that our attention be drawn to that interesting and important figure the pre-school child, i.e., the toddler between the age of two and five years. Though the more urgent claims of the baby of the family detract attention from him we know that the toddler has a mental life as delicate and complex as his physical body, and that his

future largely depends upon the provision of proper care and training during this early critical period of his existence. MENTAL LIFE. A young child lives a life full of hopes, ambitions, doubts, misgivings, joys, sorrows, and strivings that are being gratified or thwarted in much the same way at three years of age as they will be at thirty. He has certain characteristics that make the acquiring of now habits easy; he is open to suggestion; he accepts as correct information from a person he looks up to; he wants to please those he loves; and he strives to adjust himself to the numerous and varied changes incidental to the early years of life. The responsibility of parents is great and it is to assist them that various agencies have been established, e.g., Ante-Natal Clinics, Plunket Society, School Medical Services, etc. By a systematic supervision beginning during the Ante-natal period and continuing throughout infancy and childhood there will be a continuous record of the child's health and development from before birth to adolescence. By care before birth and during infancy the foundation of a healthy life is laid. Not only are we concerned with the production of a perfect child, however, but it is our responsibility to provide for him a wholesome environment in those early years ivhich make up the critical period of growth and development. HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT. Heredity and environment together aro responsible for the development of every living being. The practical question is, therefore, what may bo done to control both so as to secure the best

results. Whatever qualities a child inherits from his parents may bo modified by his surroundings either to his advantage or disadvantage. It is his parents who make his environment to a large extent, and who most powerfully influence his destiny. Their mental ability, their control of their emotions, their interests, particularly their interest in the child, their ambitions or lack of them, their moral standards— these all in some degree determine what the child shall make out of the endowment that Nature has given him. The home is the workshop in which the character and personality are moulded by the formation of habits. It is necessary, therefore, ■to provide for the whole period of childhood those conditions which are most favourable for the perfect development of body and mind. Such fundamental requirements are sunshine and pure air, food and water, warmth and protection, sleep and rest, freedom and exercise. A happy simile, and one of the common lessons of everyday experience, is that of a plant which grows strong and vigorous, and produces a wealth of bloom and fruit, when the soil, water, ant? sunshine are adapted to its requirements. When the ■conditions are unfavourable, it will grow spindly and weak, and produce few or stunted blossoms and friiit. Sunshine, fresh air, and nourishing food are equally essential to th human plant. In short, we put our trust in the big four—sun, air, food, and habits— the fundamental requirements of healthy childhood. In addition, special care must be devoted to the removal of weakness or defect by attention in its earliest stages. The Department of Hoalth is striving

to reduce diseases not only by: sanitation, by a clean milk supply, by the removal of conditions which facilitate the breeding of disease, but also by the instruction of mothers in the primary essentials of hygienic living. One great purpose of the New Zealand ante-natal clinics, the infant welfare centres, and school medical service is to increase popular knowledge along these lines. Parents should avail themselves of these opportunities on behalf of their children. It is a well-known fact that good mothers do not necessarily come into the world ready-made, and that the instinct of motherhood is not of itself a sufficient equipment for the satisfactory nurture and upbringing of a family. Even the amazing power of self-sacrifice for which mothers are proverbial cannot act as a substitute for knowledge and training in the essentials of mothercraft.

The modern kindergarten does much •aluable work in the interest of the pre-school child. In the environment t" us provided he lives a life of joyous activity where* healthy interest is quickened and energy wisely directed a 1 where also his body is subjected to a wkolesome regime of work and rest and play.

Modern psychologists lay increasing value upon the inculcation of right habits of living and of action at an early age. In the kindergarten school, as in the home, a sure foundation for the child's education lay be laid. INFECTIOUS DISEASES A harmful'doctrine held by many mothers is that all children must have the common infectious diseases, and therefore may as well be exposed to infection in order to have them over while young. This idea is quite erroneous, since any illness, however brief and slight, is a hindrance to growth, and may mean permanent impairment to some organ'or function oS the body. Eecent statistics have proved the urgent need for guarding the pre-school child against infectious'diseases, since it has been estimated that in New Zealand a large percentage of illnesses from these diseases occur under five years of age, and many of these, such as diphtheria, whooping cough, and n- ;asles, are the cause of chronic illnesses of adult life. Thus for the year 1925 there occurred 1401 cases of notifiable diseases in this age group, 450 alone of these being for diphtheria, with 30 deaths, while broncho-pneumo-nia and pneumonia accounted for 65 deaths.

Where it is possible to take measures to protect children against infectious disease parents are strongly advised to do so. It is a well-establish-ed fact, for instance, that ordinary vaccination protects against smallpox, and that by a simple process of immunisation children may be safeguarded from diphtheria.

It is obvious that treatment and care during early life is our first line of defence against disease and suffering.

The p: ;-s 00l child is one of New Zealand's greatest assets. The protection of the health of the pre-school child is the sacred trust and duty of every parent. Parents should avail themselves of the opportunities afforded by the Department of Health and r^her agencies for safeguarding the health and happiness of this important section of the . community. . Many young lives will be saved and much sickness avoided by this co-operation.