OUR BABIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3332, 23 January 1918, Page 58

OUR BABIES.

By Hyoeia

Published under the auspices of the Royal New Zealand Society tor the Health ot YVomon and Children.

"It is wiser to put up a" fence at the top ot a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom."

HEALTH LESSONS .FOR CHILDREN.— SECOND LESSON. Last week I told you the five chief needs for good health. What are they? You remember their names begin with the first five letters of the alphabet. (Get the children to repeat them, marking off each on a finger.) A Alß.—Breathe pure, fresh, clean, cool air by day and night. B. BATHING—PIenty of water for ; cleanliness. C. CLOTHING—Loose, light, comfortable clothing—neither too much nor too little. D. DlET.—Proper food. Plain, simple food taken at regular intervals. Solid food musirbe thoroughly chewed. Water should be taken after a meal, not'.with it. E. EXERCISE AND REST.-A large . amount of, exercise in the open air and eunshine is' necessary for good health. Boys and girls, as well as babies, need rest and plenty of sound sleep. AIR. . To-day I shall tell you something about clean Air. ' Pure, clean, cool air is the commonest thing we have, and the most valuable. When we are out of doors it is all around us —cool, pure, and life-giving. "When we are indoors, if the windows and doors of the room are closed, we soon make the air warm, moist, and unclean _ fcy thi breath which comes from our bodies, and we soon feel tired and weary; therefore we must open the windows wide, so that the pure, clean air may come in, and the unclean air, which we breathe out from our bodies, may got out and be made clean again. There must be a way for the clean air to come in and a way for 'the dirty air to go out. If there is an open window and a fireplace in the room the clean air comes in at the window and the dirty air goes out up the chimney. Make sure that the fireplace is not closed with a damper, a board, or any other, obstacle. Keep your windows' wide open all night long. If ,you have no fireplace in*your room open the window top and bottom. — the opening below will allow the r clean, f cool air to come in, the opening at the top will allow the warm, impure air to get out. However, it is very much better to have a stream of pure, clean air coming in at one side of the room and the unclean air going out at the other side. can arrange for this, even where i, there is no fireplace in vour bedroom, by your window wide and keeping the door of your room open; now open the door of another room with a fireplace, and the clean air will come in _ at your open window and the unclean air will go out through the doors and up 'the chimney of the other room. Parents should get the children to go round the house, opening l the windows in the various rooms and considering how the cool, fresh air is to get in and how the used-up, impure air is to get out. The children should also be shown how to keep off direct draughts by means of .screens or othor devices. Remember that blinds and even thin curtains keep out the clean air; therefore don't cover up tho openings in an? way. Some people think that night air is injurious to health. This is a great mielske. The only bad night air is inside your room, so out. Make sure of having at ail times plenty of good, clean, pure, fresh air. Without air you would die in about three 'minutes. Without water you would die in j about three days. Without food you could live for thrke weeks. The Relative Importance of Food and s Aie. Some of you may be inclined to think that you could not live without food for three wholo weeks. If you had to go without your dinner you would feel very hungry; and if you had to go without your tea us well you would imagine you were being starved, and that you would die if you did not get some food very soon. Yet you could live without food for many days if you had AIR and water. I once saw a man who lived on water and a little fruit juice for more than three weeks. He had no food at all, and although ho became very weak and cold, ho recovered and" was able to go about again and seemed quite well. So. you see, it is possible to do without food lor Quito a long time. But if you wore in a closed room into which no fresh air could find a way, the ftir in the room would become so infpuro that you would b<s poisoned to death. I daresay you have heard of tho Black Holo of Calcutta. When the British were at I ■war with tho natives of India 146 English

were taken prisoners and caefc into a room only 20k square. The room 'had two small windows, but' the air that could trickle in through these was not nearly enough for so many people. In a very short time the good air had been used up, and the prisoners began to suffer great agony. Many of them died quite soon, and in the morning only 23 of the -whole number were alive. The others had died for want of pure air. The room in which this terrible tragedy took place is known in history as "the black hole of Calcutta." I hopo you understand now how very important pure, fresh air is.

One can always pick out the children who live in the fresh air day and night. They have rosy cheeks, firm flesh, bright eyes, a merry laugh, and are full of life and gaiety. Remember 'that, to . be healthy and STRONG, YOU MUST BREATHE CLEAN, FRESH AIR, DAY AND NIGHT.