OUR BABIES.

Grey River Argus, 8 December 1928, Page 2 (Supplement)

OUR BABIES.

) (By “Hygria.”) FORMING A CHARACTER. Though written a good inanv wars ago now, the following quotation from Sir Truby King’s book for mothers. “Feeding and Care of Baby.’’ uceds ho introduction or qualification. Tn one’s experience amongst mothers and children one so frequently sees instances of failure on Hie part of parents to grasp “the plain meaning of the word ‘spoiled’ ” in relation to their children that one is moved to bring forward again these wi«e words upon the subject:— OBEDIENCE IN INFANCY. “Obedience in infancy is the foundation of all later powers of self con tr<il: yet it is the one thing the young , mother nowadays is most inclined to neglect. Instead of gently, wisely, aad firmly regulating her baby’s habits and conduct, she tends to allow him to have his own way and to rule her and the whole household. Not so the wiser so-called ‘lower animals.’ The dog and the cat carefully train their progeny in necessary habits of regularity. cleanliness, etc., from the start ami. as ha« been pointed out by Long. Seton-Thompson, and others. they hide, cuff and punish them when necessary rather than allow the formaion of bad ami irregular habits, which would exact far greater penalties latej on. All this is done by instinct 4 ; an<T T : : human mother, with the stronger live and the greater wisdom which should be hers, would have no difficulty in guiding her child aright by Amines- and consistency alone, with o»q I'-siirting to punishment if she would but start at the beginning. The establishim ut of perfect regularity of habits, initiated by ‘Fettling and Sleeping by the Clock’ (see pages 35. 36 . is the nltimat foundation of allround obedience. Granted good Olganir foundations, truth and honour can be built into* the edifice as it ' g ro ' VB - J./ .. “ ‘Building the Teeth’ and ‘Form* , ing a Character’ arc parts of con struction of the same edifice—stand in th< relationship of the imdergrOiind foundations of a building to the su perstructure. SIMPLY WON’T!” » “Our dentists tell us that nowadays when they insist on the eating of crusts and other hard fool, the inother often says. ‘Our children* simply won’t! ’ —simply ‘ won’t ’ comply with laws which have a higher sanction and greater antiquity than the authority of man himself! Such children merely exemplify the ineptitude of their parents parents too sentimental, weakly emotional, careless, or indifferent to fulfil the primary laws o f Nature. Fhe ‘cant-be-so-cruel ’ mother, whose baby cries half the night and frets ali day on account of the mother’s failure to fulfil one of the first of maternal duties, should not blame Provi deuce o r heredity her progeny has turned out a -simply wont’ in in. fancy, and will become a selfish ‘simply can’t’ in later childhood and adolescence. Power to obey the ‘Tei

Commandments’ or to conform to the temporal laws and usages of society, is not to be expected of ‘SPOILED’ babies When they reach adult life. The plain meaning of the word ‘spoiled’ i worth some reflection. Everyone grasps the full significance of spoiling a dress or spoiling a dinner, but the Similing Of a child is regarded more lightly! “I nselfishnos and altruism are not the natural outcome of habitual selfindulgence. Damaged health and absence of discipline and control in early life are the natural foundations of failure later on—failure through th • lack of control, which underlies all weakness of character, vice, and criminality. “Dr and Mrs Fitz, in a book dedicated ‘To those Parents who deem the Training of their Children their Privilege aud Duty, say: Eren as the child’s constitution (however weak or strong ■ through heredity) may be markedly changed b.' fre.-h air. suitable feeding, proper ilothing, and an abundance of sleep and exercise, so the child’s charactei (whatever the inherited tendeheies) may be transformed for good or for ba<l by training. “ ‘The child at birth has a brain Which is the physiological foundation of the adult brain. . . The child’s character, roughly fashioned by here dity, begins to be moulded for good or ill on the day on which he is born. “ ‘There are few sights more pathe tie than that of the weak mother not daring to lay her child down because he will cry fo r the snuggling warmth Ot her arm-, which in a few days of Hs apparently unintelligent existence has learnt ran be had for the crying. Critically to watch a babv ‘work’ his mother is truly enlightening. because his physical helplessness makes ft seem so incredible. And when the mother has yielded during the first few weeks to the de mauds of her child’s cries.'the chaiys of her slavery are curiously hard to break.’ ”