OUR BABIES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIII, 14 November 1928, Page 7

OUR BABIES

WISE MANAGEMENT AFTER BABY DAYS

!!y llygeia,. Published mulin' Ibo nuspicos of ilie Hoyul New Zealand .Society for the Health of Women and Children (Phmkel Society).

“It. is wiser to put up a fence at the lop of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom.”

Till! following little at'lide on the, tod- < 11 1 •1• ’ s ways appeared in a recent issue of the “Women's Pictorial.” We think it niiiy provide food for tliought and some useful points for parents of small child ten, anil so lake the liberty of passing it on to our readers :

.MAXIMUM AMOUNT OK FIiEEDOM

"As mothers know, 1 am a firm believer in discipline for baby from the earliest cradle days. Hy that 1 mean that baby must 'be taught automatic obedience ami must learn to respond to a regular rhythm, and not. liml that, by the power of the lungs, lie can bring himself extra, attention or other delights. IJiit, while discipline is one side of the picture (and a very important side), and while it is my belief that if obedience has not been taught by the second birthday it will he very, very hard lor it over to he taught, yet. L would plead with mothers to give their children the maximum amount oi Iroedom possible. “Children are not small replicas of their mothers, nor are they miniature adults, and we must always beware of seeking to regulate their lives from an adult standpoint. Nothing is so likely to blight and spoil a budding personality as a too rigid and unimaginative authority.

“Take the question of freedom in physical action. Almost incessant, movement on the part of the pre-school child is both right and necessary. 'I he law of growth and co-ordination ol the muscles depends almost entirely oil such movement, and every natural activity and impulse gives practice to (he muscular and sensory systems, enabling them io develop to the full. “Any training which cuts across this natural law is both cruel and foolish. If you cannot have both flowers and children. in your “back patch,’’ sacrifice the flowers. LEGITIMATE OUTLETS

“When legitimate outlets are provided for this activity, there will be no need for endless strings of “Don’ts” from morning to night, which are so wearying to both mother and child. The best outlay a mother .can make is to erect in some way an outside shelter or veranda, to provide outdoor tables, chairs, and sleeping places, and to install a large sand pile, while a see-saw and a box of wooden bricks are excellent' outdoor equipment. With such simple arrangement the toddlers will he happy, healthy, and content, and the garden a far more radiant place than any number of flowers could ever make it.

“Even, when activity is directed into some dangerous channel, it. should not be sternly repressed, but merely redirected into an equally delightful but harmless one. All commands should be, as far as possible, positive, not negative, and with a. little imagination, many. of the child's natural desires can he legitimately satisfied. For instance, all children love playing with scissors, find there is no- reason why round-topped, Lluntish ones should not be provided, and the child taught how to use. them. “With regard to freedom of choice of action, experience shows that it is usually more kind to the child to allow this but rarely. A child has so little experience, and often takes life so seriously, that lie will exhaust his supply of nervous energy in' trying to decide for himself which of two pleasures bo would choose.

“To plan the day so that there is no hesitation will make for rcstfulness. “The wise mother will refrain from speaking until any plan that is in her mind is quite matured and nettled, while undoubtedly the fewer changes which are. made in the every-day routine the better it is for character and content. We should find such a. routine boring, but a small child delights in law and order, and in frequent repetition—as any nursery storyteller can witness ! EXAMPLE COUNTS

“When we come to' the question of character and morals, the crux of the whole situation is the atmosphere which we ourselves are creating. Baby’s sharp eyes are ever watching and striving to imitate the beloved adult, and lie can have no experience of any moral tone except that which is in his own. home. Hence the importance of self-control in home life, and of being scrupulously careful in the choice of any deputy who is much with the child Sometimes daddy, tired from the office, is a stumbling block to his little one, for it is useless to speak of the value of politeness, chivalry, cheerfulness, and so on if the man of the house lolls at table or permits himself to be grumpy or disagreeable. One of the most important of childish instincts is the longing “to be big,” and if virtues which are instilled into him are connected solely with the nursery, lie will, sooner or later, desire to show bis emancipation by practising the opposite. If virtues, however, are the adult things, and wilfulness, rebellion, untidiness, and so on, signs of babyhood, then we have a powerful incentive to help him to acquire the former and outgrow the latter.”