WELFARE OF THE CHILD

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19469, 27 October 1926, Page 16

WELFARE OF THE CHILD

OPENING OF CONFERENCE. THE MOTHER. AND THE RACE. INFLUENCES IN HOME LIFE. A three days' conference on child welfare, organised by the Auckland branch of the National Council of Women, was opened yesterday in the University College Hall. Dr. Hilda Northcroft, president of the branch, who presided, said the addresses to be given would not. deal exhaustively with their various topics, but it was hoped they would provide food for thought. Mr. J. A. Warnock, Deputy-Mayor, in opening the conference, said he wished to anticipate some of the remarks that would be made later by Mrs. N. E. Ferner Upon playgrounds for . children. As the result of a deputation from the Play Association to the City Council, the Parks Committee, of which he was chairman, had been directed to inquire into means of providing more small playgrounds in the city. It was recognised that, although Auckland was well provided with parks, there were too few small reserves in thickly-populated areas for the use of children. The committee was earnestly considering the matter, but it found that suitable land was not easy to procure without demolishing houses and dispossessing families, which would have to be provided with houses elsewhere. Mrs. C. E. Maguire, when a member of the council, had shown that it was not enough to provide playgrounds and apparatus. The children had" to be taught to play. The council had therefore appointed a lady supei'visor and an assistant to take charge of the playgrounds, with excellent results. Unequal Fortune. The first address was delivered by Mrs. A. G. Talbot, who said she regretted very much that Lady Alice Fergusson could not be present to undertake the duty, seeing that Her Excellency had so identified herself with the welfare of mothers and children. It was often remarked that great numbers of women excellently fitted by nature for motherhood were either unmarried or married and childless, while little butterfly women were found with children growing up round them. One explanation was that Nature wished all types of humanity to be represented equally in each new generation. There was, nevertheless, a recompense. She wondered what the world would do without its elder sisters arj.d fairy godmothers. Mrs. Talbot spoke of the development of a mother's feelings from the earliest days of her maternity. It meant much to a mother, she said, to feel herself a link in the chain of life—hand clasping hand down the ages. She knew that it was her duty to hand on her own social heritage fuller and richer to her child. For the first six years the little creature would be entirely in her hands. 'How was she to treat the qualities it inherited ? Authorities could not agree whether heredity or environment had the greater influence, but it was certain the mother wielded a very great power indeed. Her own character and personality counted for more than her words. The things she said oftenest she frequently failed to teach. The occasional few words expressing her own self were longest remembered. Moulding the New Nation. When school-days came the child needed counsel. It had questions to be answered, impressions to be corrected. Not all schools took account of the child's spirit; the mother must make good the lack. When the child reached its teens the mother must try to move forward also, and teach the child to stand alone. When at length her own brood were fledged, she should give other mothers the benefit of her experience. In "The Science of Power," written under the cloud of the Great War, Benjamin Kidd had put forward the view that with the close of the reign of force, it was to the influence of woman that civilisation must look for progress. Germany had used the home wrongly to develop a spirit of aggressive nationalism. Japan was doing much the same, and hoped in a generation to transform the national spirit. It was certain the lessons learned in the nursery were afterwards reflected in the nation. The mother held the coming race in her hands. Iri inculcating principles of social purity mothers could do much, If they combined they could insist that schools should not be allowed to neglect the spiritual side of life. The Developing Mind. Speaking upon "The Child in the Home," Mrs. A. M. Niblock jiid that a child inherited not only physical and mental, but also psychical and spiritual traits. It was most important 'that young people should be taught the meaning of heredity and adaptation in marriage. This was work for the priest, the doctor and the trained psychologist. Parents had the moulding of the child's threefold nature. They were an important part of the environment which shaped what nature had provided. Mrs. Niblock traced the gradual unfolding of a child's mental powers, and showed how its various desires might h§ trained and faults avoided, especially in the earlj l, years,, when the child obtained its life-standard of relationship to the world. It was important that religion should be not a formality but an allpervading influence. Only by dealing with the souls of children was there any hope of bringing God to earth. Mrs. John Cook, New Zealand president of the National Council of Women, spoke upon the same subject. She held it to be very important that children should be treated with respect, listened to when they had something to tell or ask, but yet' not indulged or idolised. A child must not. be rebuffed or havo its confidence shaken. It should be helped, but more often shown how to help itself. By being taught to work cheerily and happily it would be provided with the greatest antidote to the. problems and difficulties of life. There should be no distinction between sacred and secular in the home life, for really nothing was secular but sin. In the evening further addresses were delivered by Dr. Hilda Northcroft and Sir Truby King, Director of Child Welfare. * if To-day's addresses at the conference will be: " The Ex-baby," by Dr. Bruton Sweet; "The Kindergarten," by Miss Kennedy, of the Auckland Training College; "The School Child," by Dr. Ada Paterson, Director of School Hygiene; " Primary Education," by Mr. C. J. Shaw, of the Auckland Training College; " Physical Education," by Mr. H. E. Longworth, Director of Physical Education. An exhibition illustrating the. work of the Pluuket Society is being held in connection with the conference, and like the meetings is open to the public. It is proposed to have the addresses printed in pamphlet form for circulation throughout the Dominion.