OUR BABIES

Te Aroha News, Volume XLI, Issue 6520, 16 September 1924, Page 6

OUR BABIES

BY HYGEIA A GRANDMOTHER’S LETTER A letter has just reached m(f from a grandmother, in which she asks me for advice through the medium of the “bur Babies” column on the question of “Children’s Balls.” She writes: “I should like your opinion on the benefits, if any, and the ill effects of ‘children’s balls,’ so much in vogue as money-raising agencies for churches or other purposes. . . . We know children need plenty of exercise and amusements, and of the right sort.” With this latter sentiment “Hygeia” heartily agrees. Children, like young animals, must work off their abundant energy somehow, either in running, playing games, dancing, skipping, riding, swimming, or other activities. It is this energy that keeps them well and makes the “roses” in their cheeks and the sparkle in theireyes. If a child is deprived of these joys he will become listless, pale, cross, and unhappy. Any of these recreations taken in moderation is beneficial, not least of them dancing. Dancing, if the cloth-' ing be light and free and the slippers comfortable, is an excellent form of exercise But, like everything else, it must not be overdone. A child should neve’r dance till he is “almost dead.” Parents whose children are competition prize-winners, and parents whose children hope soon to join the ranks with their elder sisters and brothers, should guard against the over-strain which is likely to come with the approach of the competition session. The most beneficial form that dancing can take for children is an af- ( ternoon or morning dance class, lasting for, say, one and a-half to two hours. In such a class children enjoy themselves thoroughly, and a “rest” is usually given between each dance. There is also stimulating competition here to see who will be chosen to dance alone for a few bars of .the music. The children go home from these classes healthily tired, bat not as a rule “worn out,” and they keenly await the approach of the next dancing afternoon. “CHILDREN’S BALLS” But with children’s balls it is a different matter. The highly-strung-child is in a fever of nervous excitement even before she leaves home; the hour is late for her (she ought to be going to bed, if not in bed and asleep), and there are two hours of strenuous dancing ahead of her. Even the more solid child, less nervous of temperament, would be the better of being at home. A child needs 10 hours’ continuous sleep every night, in the year if possible—that is the minimum amount to produce strong, active children. in* - every week or so the child is deprived of so much sleep, his health must be affected for the worse. Some children are foolishly allowed to go to dances on two or even three nights a week. This usually happens in their holiday time—a time when they should be storing up all the energy and good health that they possibly can in readiness for the next school term.

If parties and dances are used sparingly as great “treats” they can do no serious harm. But once or twice a year is sufficient, and it is found that the children enjoy them much more when there are longer intervals between them. It is a pity to make children blas*e and indifferent to dances when they are young by allowing them to go to too many, as by so doing they are deprived of much pleasure later on in life. Besides, it tends to make them grow up too quickly, and we do not wish to make our children “little adults.” Let them be children while they can—for “childhood is but short.” TINY TOTS So far I have been speaking only of children between the ages of six and sixteen. My correspondent mentions that children of two years and upwards go to dances. To take a child of two years to an evening dance is, to my mind criminal, and luckily I do not think it is so very often done, what is bad for a six-year-old is, in this connection, four times worse for a baby of two—for a child of two years is, after all, only a baby. Such a small person should sleep soundly from G p.m. to G a.m. every night, besides having a sleep in the morning and again in the middle of the afternoon if possible. It is much to be regretted that in our present state of advanced civilisation tiny children are always to be found at the evening picture shows. It is heart-breaking to hear their cries, and to see them sprawling uncomfortably in their mother’s arms,

when they ought to be tucked snugly up in a cot at home, where (we hope) the air would be purer than in an over-crowded, stuffy, unhealthy picture palace.