FOOD FOR CHILDREN

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1745, 16 August 1905, Page 25

FOOD FOR CHILDREN

Sickness will enter homes notwithstanding all precaution taken against it. and it becomes the mother of the family to ever regard, with a watchful eye, the health of those that surround her. It. is therefore our duty to do all in our power to preserve that health. Regularity of meals and well-cooked food are great accessories to health, and not to be lightly regarded. It is certainly true that the food which is most relished, which is made agreeable to our taste by good cooking, will afford the most nourishment to our bodies. Now we do not mean that highly-sea-soned food that tempts the stomach to take more of it when it has had enough, but we mean food that is so skilfully cooked as to render it nourishing and agreeable. The stomach is perhaps the most easily affected organ of the body, and stomach complaints assist in- the derangement of our whole nervous organisation.

Food for the little folk should be prepared with great care in order that it may nourish their bodies properly. All beating condiments should not be given them, as they create an unhealthy appetite by stimulating the stomach unnaturally, causing the digestive organs to do their work improperly by not converting the food into healthy muscle, blood, and bone. Bread and milk afford a very good breakfast for a child, as milk contains in itself every principle required for the nourishment of the body. Those families where there are children, where good milk can be procured for food purposes, are well off indeed. New milk is, of course, the best, yet the fact of it being skimmed does not take its nourishing properties from it. Bread and milk, light custard puddings, fruit, baked and meats, with a few vegetables, are the materials of which the meals of children should consist. Oatmeal, barley, rice prepared in different ways, sago, etc., should always find a place in the nouser

hold provisions, both for the sake of variety and wholesomeness. Rice and sago possess in themselves but little nourishing power, but both have the advantage of being easily digested and well adapted for use—especially for children. The better system of cookery, that of the proper preparation of food, i 9 not only a matter of taste but also of health and strength to us all.