Let Children Sleep

Manawatu Times, Volume LV, Issue 7197, 21 April 1930, Page 11

Let Children Sleep

A famous doctor once gave it as his opinion that many of the crimes committed by desperadoes wero indirectly due to loss of sleep during childhood. To a child loss of sleep is more harmful than any other form of starvation. Tho effects are not always felt at once, but over a period of years a boy or girl who has been robbed of sleep becomes neurotie, rcstloss, unable to concentrate on any subject for long, and is possessed of a spirit of rebellion against life. Later, this revolt takes a more concrete form, and so we havo our prisons filled with offenders. No mother is so callous as to deny her children food, yet a great many will starve them of the sloop necessary to their well-being. Usually it is just thoughtlessness. There is an idea among many women that, if baby is sleeping, it does not matter whether it is, outside in the noise and distraction of traffic or in its cot, quiet and dark. It docs matter. It matters so much that, although the baby's eyelids are closed, there may be no real depth of sleep, but a fitful, unsatisfactory condition which carries with it no rest and merely stores up trouble for a later period. Must Be Regular No baby should be out of its bed after 6 o’clock in the evening. Sleeping, like feeding, must bo regular, and a healthy baby is one who gets his full quota of sleep every -night. Tho healthy child is very active during his waking hours, and that very activity is using up an enormous amount of energy and nerve power. During sloop tho child must repair that wastod tissue, and ho must also grow. / Stunted growth in children is another penalty which tho foolish mother must pay. Quiet and Darkness

Quiet and darkness arc also essential if the sleep is to be of tho utmost value. No child can sleep easily with a strong light overhead, nor can ho havo dreamless rest unless quiet provails. ... Mothers have said that their o!ridren are too energetic and nervy to sleep early. It is just thoso vory call dren' who" require more 3lecp th ui any others. , ... It is easy to train a en.id to f.ocp tho habit is started in infancy ana never broken. The time to form ..obits is not when your baby is ‘ ‘ old enough to understand what you are saying, but when he is born. It is appalling to sec parents coming home about 10 or 11 o’clock at night, carrying their children. Usually the little ones arc crying and tho mother is harassed. It never occurs to father or mother that tlicro may come a day when their son will bring sorrow to them, or their daughter may become a martyr to insomnia. 1 Another cause of indifferent sloep is tho taking of food too near bedtime. Tho brain cannot rest if it is for cvci being disturbed by the stomach Nor is the old idea of telling the chill a story before going to bed a good planUsually a littio boy or girl will h 6 in bed and think ovor what you have said, and when at last ho or she falls asleep it is to dream about something or someone. _____