TALKS ON HEALTH

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIX, 29 January 1936, Page 3

TALKS ON HEALTH

BY A FAMILY DOCTOR. THE CARE OF BOYS My dear mot hers, please remember that your little boy will not always be little, and that one day he must learn independence. Are you beginning to train him in the right way now? He must not always be a mother’s darling, you know. If he is an only child, you must find companions of his own age to play with him. He must share his toys, if lie is taught that everything he sees is his own, he will quickly develop a selfish character, if he has a football, he must let other boys kick it. Some boys are happy at school, others miserable. It is generally the parents’ fault when a new boy at school is miserable. There is no law compelling parents to pass an examination before they get married; but there is no reason why the parents should not study the characters ol growing children, and try to learn a little about their,.job. I had to study lor six years before I was let loose on the British public, THE DUTY OF PARENTS

And so we find boys growing up selfish, unaccommodating, spiteful, or shy and frightened, blushing and nervous, untruthful, and possibly criminal. Parents should always be made to stand in the dock with their children. We can only advance by making the children better than their parents were. Night and day fathers and mothers should work at (.lie. problem of doing their best for their children. Generally, parential influence is limited to providing fairly good food not very well copked, .and occasionally giving their sons a clump on the head. Perhaps it would be a good plan to send the boy to sea, or to work on a farm, or.to train him as a watchmaker, or to let him take up a musical instrument if he has a bent that way. But, alas, it is very hard to get parents to move. They just bung their boys into any blind-alley occupation for the shake of the few shillings a week. The poor boy is made to hang on to the tail of a van for three years until he gets the sack, and then he knows nothing; he gets one pound of unearned dole, and loses a thousand pounds’ worth of selfrespect. All you who are parents should write an essay on each one of your children describing his or her special mental and physical characteristics, setting forth what work you intend to put them to and giving reasons for your choice. ADVICE TO MOTHERS If a mother has had one had confinement and, in due course, becomes pregnant again, she must go lo the doctor and ask his advice. If she leaves the neighbourhood, she should ask her jhl doctor to be so kind as to write to the new doctor; perhaps some useful information would pass between the two. Or the woman go to the same hospital, and remind them that she was an inpatient a year or so ago, and would they take her case on again. At any rate, something must be done; it ip very wrong to go muddling along trusting to luck that all will be well. Remember the old principle I am always laying to drum into you, by fair means or foul — orevention is better than cure. I shall be really vexed witli you this time if you go to tlie doctor when it is too late, imd he savs with a note of despair in liis voice, “Why did you not come before?” Do give the doctors and nurses a chance. They want to help you, and there is the hospital all equipped to do you a good t urn. I bey will welcome you and be kind to you. I am going to wash out of the lists of the Registrar of Deaths those cases of poor who suffered in one birth and never learned their lesson. This time, ask advice early. For one thing, the kidneys are sometimes affected during pregnancy, and the water should be examined periodically all through the carrying-time. W'hat a lot of suffering such a simple precaution would save! WISDOM TEETH

The wisdom tooth comes through at about the age of ( twenty, perhaps a year or two earlier, as the case may be. It really is very distressing to a fine young man of twenty, whose moustache is really quite perceptible, to be told by an insulting doctor that he is cutting his teeth. The doctor will not, however, recommend the young man to bite a piece of india-rubber. Some of us may hardly be aware that another tooth is coming through, bnt in other cases wisdom tooth may give much pain. The wirdom is the furthest, back of the three molar teeth. A good deal depends on the space left for it. If the lower jaw is rather small and the other teeth set far apart, there may be scarcely any room for the wisdom to force itself through. It may interfere with the second molar, its next-door neighbour. It may causes the gum to be sore; in many cases it irritates the jaw-muscles and prevents the jaw-joint from being freely moved. The swelling that appears may give rise to the belief that an abscess is forming; an examination of the mouth may show no sign of a gumboil and no sign of a decayed tooth. THE STRAIGHT QUESTION

I should like to collect, all the people who imagine they have cancer, and make I hem march for ten miles singing, “We’ve not got cancer” to the tune of “Auld Lang Sync.” It is said that it takes a surgical operation to get a joke into the head of a Scotsman ; it would take a broadside from, a dreadnought to drive the rancor bogey out of the ernniums of some of you. Hut I hear you complaining that T must, not laugh at you too much because you have known pconle who reallv have died of •cancer. Well, if you think you have reasonable grounds for suspecting cancer, you must go to your doctor and say in a loud, bold voice, “Have I got cancer?” If the man of medicine says “No,” you may reply, “Very well, that settles 11, good morning.”