HEALTH OF CHILDREN.

Waipa Post, Volume XVIII, Issue 1008, 19 October 1920, Page 2

HEALTH OF CHILDREN.

(Published under the authority if the Education Department.) As a beverage for children tea should be prohibited. Up to the age of 10 years children should not be allowed to drink it.' It stimulates the nervous system. The reverse is required with children under present conditions of life. Children are more sensitive to stimulation and excitement than adults. Again, tea is detrimental to the digestive system in children and upsets the regular action of important organs. Thirdly tea interferes with the cleansing action of the saliva and so contributes to dental decay. Especially is this so when taken with cake and biscuit and white bread; and not followed by a cleansing food such as apple. The evil effects are more pronounced when the tea has been allowed to infuse for too long a time. It may be asked what may be given to children as a drink in place of tea. Water, milk and water, and cocoa are quite suitable. It should be borne in mind, however, that too much milk may cause digestive trouble and loss of appetite. For a healthy child on a well-balanced diet more than one pint of milk a day should not be given, and less may suffice. Even if considered only from the point of view of its habit-producing effect in 0 after years tea drinking should be prohibited till as late an age as possible. The morning ana afternoon tea and cake habit is not only in the vast majority of cases wholly unnecessary and wasteful, but is decidedly harmful. No healthy individual can claim to require nourishment as often as 5 or 6 times- -a day.