The Waikato Times With which is Incorporated The Waikato Argus. FRIDAY, AUGUST 10, 1923. HEALTH OF THE CHILDREN.

Waikato Times, Volume 98, Issue 15310, 10 August 1923, Page 4

The Waikato Times With which is Incorporated The Waikato Argus. FRIDAY, AUGUST 10, 1923. HEALTH OF THE CHILDREN.

The report presented to Parliament by <the Director of School Hygiene is anything but pleasant reading. It is stated that in an examination of over 34,000 children 60 per cent, were found to have defects, and if dental troubles are included, the percentage of defectives rises to 88 per cent. Dental disease, in short, has been found to be almost universal with children. There is no mystery about the cause, for the examination showed that a much higher percentage of disease was found in- schools when a store selling lollies was in' the immediate neighbourhood'. Good teeth seem to be confined to the children who are being brought up in orphanages, and to .the very poor. Most people will be prepared to believe all that the report says about the defective teeth, and also about the cause of these defects, but it would be well if We obuld have further particulars about the general bad health of children. The doctors admit the difficulty of setting up any standard of comparison with other countries, and it may be that they have an unreasonably high ideal in their mind's. At the same time, this -country should-attath-a high standard, because of the advantages of climate and of the general diffusion of comfort, and if the proportion of children who fall short of the condition the doctors expect is so great there is certainly ground for enquiry. The report places the blame on the home environment.' Lack of control-, feeding between meals, visits to picture theatres, ex-cess in lollies and cakes are mentioned as the causes for impaired physical condition, and it will be generally -conceded that these things are too common next door, though not in our own family. The question of the children's health Is bound up with a wider question. Are children brought hj) at present oh the right lines. A hundred years ago the regime was very different. It was not only that luxury was less common; there was a general 'Concensus of bpinion- that a certain amount of hardship was good for ybung people. Their pleasures and requirements came second to those of their elders. They were expected to be quiet in the presence of the seniors and to re-cognise that they were of secondary importance. All this has been changed. The children expect as much luxury as the parents, and commonly receive more. Their wants are the first consideration. In company they often take the lead. Their education has become largely a matter of amusement, and no attempt is made ,to call on them to grapple with difficulties. The excess Of lollies and cakes is merely one side of a general system of spoiling children, and there are very many parents who would claim credit for never denying their children anything. The system has been encouraged by ihe restriction in the number of the family. It is obviously easier to spoil one or two -than it is when the numbers are six or eight. When the doctors -make their examination they speak not only of excess of sweetmeats, but also of lack of -control; of feeding between meals, of attendance at picture shows, and, wbrst of all, they say that the children brought up in orphanages have the best record. The parent is an absolute handicap to the child. To what extent these things are true it is hard to say—for the facts cannot be tabulated in statistics, but the report speaks of a high percentage of Children who exhibit the physical characteristics, and it is reasonable to assume that an equal number are affected -morally and intellectually. It is not generally realised that the over-kindness shown to children is likely to make life anything but a pleasant for them. Putting on one side the worst cases of spoiling, .the general atmosphere of making the child's interests the first consideration at school and at home creates an expectation that the same course will always be followed. We know that it cannot be so, arid that with life as we have always known it there must be much strife and struggle, and much disappointment. To a -child brought up in the old school these things come naturally, and did not discourage; but the child whose path has always been smoothed in days will fancy that the world is a cold and cheerless place. The only child is not usually a desirable character, but we are raising a very large number of them. It is the most common of tales that some man of wealth or position started in the world with half-a-crown or some equally inadequate sum. Most people realise that the success is to some extent due to the qualities fostered by early hardship; yet although they ardently desire the same Wealth and position, they do not dream of instituting the same discipline. It is not, in fact, necessary; most of the comforts and even luxuries might remain, so long as the child was not encouraged to believe himself or herself the most important thing in sight. It is that feeling of importance which must inevitably lead to disappointment. In the Old Country the classes in which undue luxury is likely to prevail usually send their children to what they call a public school, and we call a private school. The amount of Lalin or mathematics which arc there acquired is often very slight, but the boy learns to be obedient to bigger boys, to black their boots, toast their bread, anil field their cricket halls, and when his time comes lo go out into the world he has- learnt how to obey, which is the indispensable step in learning to command. The treatment nictod to children is a fashion, and not an admirable fashion. The report on school hysien-i will not probably work

much change, but it may be the first move in calling attention to a system which requires change. It is an injustice and a hardship to children to suffer them to entertain an exaggerated idea of their importance.