OUR BABIES.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 8 December 1928, Page 15

OUR BABIES.

BY HYGEIA. Published under the auspices of the ltoyal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children (Plunket Society). FORMING A CHARACTER.

Though written a good! many years ago now, tne following quotation xroni fciir Trudy King’s hook for mothers. “Heeding and Care of Baby,’’ needs no introduction or qualification. in one’s experience amongst mothers and children one so frequently sees instances of failure on tne part of parents to grasp “the plain meaning of the word ‘spoiled' ’’ m relation to their children that one is moved to bring forward again these wise words upon the subject.— OBEDIENCE IN INFANCY. “Obedience in infancy is the foundation of all later powers of self-con-trol; yet it is the one thing the young motfier nowadays is most inclined to neglect. Instead of (gently, wisely, and 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, and, as has been pointed out by i.oiig, Seton-Thoiupson, and others, they chide, cult, and punish them when necessary rather than allow the formation of bad and irregular habits, which would exact far greater penalties later on. All this is done by instiet; and the human mother, with the stronger love and the greater wisdom which should be hers, would have-no difficulty in guiding her child aright by firmness anc, consistency alone, without resorting to I punishment, if she would but start at the beginning. The establishment ol perfect regularity of habits, initiated by ‘Feeding and Sleeping by the Clock’ (see pages 35, oh), is the ultimate foundation or all-round obedience. Granted good organic foundations, truth and honour can be built into the edifice as it grows. “ ‘Building the Teeth’ and ‘Forming a Character’ are parts of construction of the same edifice —standing in the relationship of the underground foundations or a- building to flic superstructure.

“SIMPLY WON’T!’’

“Our dentists tell us that nowadays when they insist on the eating ol crusts and other hard food, the mother 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 of Nature. The. ‘can’t-be-so-cruel’ mother, whose baby cries hall the night and frets all day on account of the mother’s failure to fulfil one of the first of maternal duties, should not blame Providence or heredity because her progeny has turned out a ‘simplywon’t’ infancy, and will become a selfish ‘simply-can’t’ in later childhood and adolescence. Power to obey the ‘Ten Commandments’ or to- conform to the temporal laws and usages of society is not to be expected of ‘spoiled’ (babies w/hen they reach adult liie. The plain meaning of the fc word: ‘spoiled’ is worth some reflection. Everyone grasps the full significance of spoiling a dress or spoiling a dinner, but the spoiling of a child is regarded more lightly! “Unselfishness „ and altruism are not the natural outcome of habitual self-indulgence. Damaged health and absence of discipline and control in early life are the natural foundations of failure later on —failure through the lack of control, which underlies all weakness of character, vice, aitd criminality. “Dr. and Mrs. Eitz, in a hook dedicated ‘To Those Parents Who Deem the Training of Their Children Their Supreme Privilege and Duty,’ say : “ ‘Even as the child’s constitution (however weak or strong through heredity) may be markedly changed by fresh air, suitable feeding, proper clothing, and an abundance of sleep and exercise, so the child’s character (whatever the inherited tendencies) may he transformed for good or for bad 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 heredity begins to he moulded for good or ‘ill on the day on which he is horn. “ ‘There are few sights more pathetic than that of the weak mother not daring to lay her child down because he wiTl cry for the smuggling warmth of her arms which in the few days of his apparently unintelligent existence lie has learnt can be had for the crying. Critically to watch a baby ‘work’ his mother is truly enlightening, because his physical helplessness makes it seem so incredible . . . . 4nd when the mother has yielded durino- the first few weeks to the demands of her child’s cries, the chains of her I slavery are curiously hard to break.