SAFEGUARDING THE CHILDREN

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22318, 16 January 1936, Page 13

SAFEGUARDING THE CHILDREN

Sir, —There are certainly numbers of eases of malnutrition, but in all instances within my experience it is the mothers of the victims who are responsible for that condition. In the street in which I live I can put my finger on at least a dozen youngsters who are half starved. The fathers of these children have not known a day's unemployment throughout the depression. The root of the cause is the selfish outlook and conduct of the average present-day mother, who spends her days gadding about and having what she calls a good time, when she should be preparing wholesome meals for her children. Although 1 live within four minutes' walk of the school, not one of the youngsters in the street comes home to a mid-day meal. Mother is out all day and comes home in a fluster at 5 p.m., generally with a bag of stale buns and some saveloys for the evening meal. If we, as sensible New Zealanders, will demand that the natural guardian of the child's health, viz., the mother, be compelled to shoulder her responsibility, then there would be no room for the propagandists to step in with their programmes of national schemes for school children. In conclusion, I would suggest that the authorities make it compmsory for all schools (country excepted) to close for an hour and a-half at mid-day, and for all the pupils living within a mile to go to their homes for lunch. I think if that rule came into force we should soon see a marked improvement in the children's health, besides which the mothers would be brought to realise that they—and not the State —are the natural and rightful guardians of the health of their offspring. Enfant.