TERRORS OF CHILDREN

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21296, 24 September 1932, Page 7 (Supplement)

TERRORS OF CHILDREN

BY A DOCTOR

The three main causes of night terrors In children are the effects of suggestion upon a hypersensitive nervous system, the ;often unsuspected presence of adenoids, and excess of meat in the diet. Suggestion piays a vital part in the production of many childish fears. It is *o fatally easy to 'terrify a child and so infinitely hard to uproot that same fear from his mind. The fear element hfls often been implanted in the child in all innocence or even in jocularity. The mind of a child is as sensitive, but not as accurate, as a photographic plate, and impressions received thereon are apt to be distorted. During the early years of life the quick imagination of the sensitive, nervous child tends to be hyperactive in the darkness of the night.. Daylight impressions are prone to assume a sinister hue in the gloom of the darkened nursery, or when the uncertain light of the candle merely accentuates the grotesque, flickering outlines of the shadows. . ' All nervous children are fascinated by the uncanny, and a fairy tale, which other little ones—after having been properly and deliciously thrilled in the telling—will lightly dismiss from their memories, appears a grim and fearsome reality to them in the darkened nursery. An indescribable amount of harm can be caused by thoughtless nurses who frighten their little charges with terrifying stories of bogeys or by immuring them in a pitchdark room as a punishment. Iheie is no furer method of causing a child to diead the night hours. When a child screams with terror we mav be sure that he imagines that lie does actually see something- To tell him that "It's all right" is absolute y futile unless we discover, and remove, the cause of his alarm. It is most decidedly not "all right." and he demands the most positive proof to the contrary. The mother must demonstrate to mm that lie can go to sleep in absolute safety, therefore it is essential for her to find the cause of his alarms and rectify it. Anything in the nursery which terrifies Her child must be removed. Horrifying fairy t.-des, in which heads are cut off and ogres figure prominently, should be banner. This injunction applies to many exciting books, and visits to a kinema should be carefully supervised. The physical cause of night terrors can be- removed. It cannot be too stiongly emphasised that the presence of adenoiHs in the nasal passages is a most fertil fource "f night terrors, 'lhe operation for their removal is a trivial one. Meat eating is another exceedingly common cause of nocturnal alarms, ug y dreams, and nightmares m the young. Meat is a very stimulating food andle. - ches the imagination of ch.hlhood to an unsuspected degree. Ihe erasure , c h from the dietary of a child will do much to permanently dispel night <?' 10