DEMOCRACY FOR CHILDREN

Star (Christchurch), Issue 20044, 6 September 1920, Page 9

DEMOCRACY FOR CHILDREN

Tile physicians and educators "who constitute the Child Health Organisation in America have attempted to sift out the barest essentials of laws of hcaun—not the things which it were well to do, but tho things which must lie done, regularly and automatically, by children throughout tho years of growth. They have also dovised means of interesting children, not only to 'know, but to do these things. The aim of the Child Health Organisation is to put the play spirit into health work, making of it a game whose rules are positive rather than negative, tilery child wants to play a winning game. To do go he must obey the rules of the game;— 1. Drinking as much milk as possible, but not coffee or tea. y. Drinking at least four glasses of water a day. 13. Hating some vegetables or fruit every day. ; 4. A full bath more than once a week,' 5. Brushing the teeth at least once a day. ti. A bowel movement every morning. V. flaying part of every day out of doors. 8. Sleeping long hours with windows open. 'these lew health essentials must be made so habitual in tho daily life of the child that they become quite automatic and unconscious. It should be as natural for the child to brush his teeth every day as to brush his hair. It should bo as much a matter of course lor him to clear out bis bowels before going to school in the morning as to. Rash his face. It is- certainly even more important for his general health that he should be clean on the inside than that he s-ohuld be decorously tidy on the outside. Children, must lie made to feel that to fulfil these simple tasks is their highest patriotic duty, one which will tit them to bo strong men and women. The malnutrition which is such a great national danger is duo almost as much to pampering and indulgence as to poverty. • '‘l don’t like oatmeal,” 11 1 hate milk,” “ I don’t want to go to bed,” “I don't want to do this or that, or the other thing,” are the constant cries in many a. home. Before wo can have the race of the fine healthy citizens we vision, children • must be made to eat the things which are good for them, Whether these things please their palates or not. They must learn to play and sleep and work according to principle and not according to whim. Incidentally wo may say that it i s only through nelf-control acquired only during childhood that tho storms and stresses of adolsccnce can be successfully met. Mere information on sox topics, however carefully and scientifically imparted, is of small avail, unless it is bulwarked by the will and the habit of self-control. Tile schools must train children in tho practise of health habits, and should give credit for conscientious ca.re in matters of personal cleanliness and other phases of right living -ns much as tor careful work in drawing or experiments in physics. Training in health should be made as important a. part of the school curriculum as training jn arithmetic or spelling.

“How do you liko the pudding, John? It’s y recipe itirs Atkins gave me over the ’phone.” 'To be perfectly frank, my dear, m tastes as if the. wires had got crossed.”