Advice to a Mother on the Management of Her ChildrenChavasse, Pye Henry
Science
Advice to a Mother on the Management of Her Children
Chavasse, Pye Henry
Child care; Children -- Health and hygiene; Infants -- Health and hygiene
A child's antipathy to certain articles of diet should be respected:
it is a sin and a shame to force him to eat what he has a great
dislike to: a child, for instance, sometimes dislikes the fat of meat,
underdone meat, the skin off boiled milk and off rice-pudding. Why
should he not have his likes and dislikes as well as "children of a
larger growth?" Besides, there is an idiosyncrasy--a peculiarity of
the constitution in some children--and Nature oftentimes especially
points out what is good and what is bad for them individually, and we
are not to fly in the face of Nature. "What is one man's meat is
another man's poison." If a child be forced to eat what he dislikes,
it will most likely not only make him sick, but will disorder his
stomach and bowels; food, if it is really to do him good, must be
eaten by him with a relish, and not with disgust and aversion. Some
mothers, who are strict disciplinarians, pride themselves on
compelling their children to eat whatever they choose to give them!
Such children are to be pitied!
164. _When ought a child to commence to dine with his parents_?
As soon as he be old enough to sit up at the table, provided the
father and mother either dine or lunch in the middle of the day. "I
always prefer having children about me at meal tines. I think it makes
them little gentlemen and gentlewomen in a manner that nothing else
will."--_Christian's Mistake_.
THE NURSERY.
165. _Save you any remarks to make on the selection, the ventilation,
the warming, the temperature, and the arrangements of a nursery? and
have you any further observations to offer conducive to the well-doing
of my child_?
The nursery ought to be the largest and the most airy room in the
house. In the town, if it be in the topmost story (provided the
apartment be large and airy) so much the better, as the air will then
be purer. The architect, in the building of a house, ought to be
particularly directed to pay attention to the space, the loftiness,
the ventilation, the light, the warming, and the conveniences of a
nursery. A bath-room attached to it will be of great importance and
benefit to the health of a child.
It will be advantageous to have a water-closet near at hand, which
should be well supplied with water, be well drained, and be well
ventilated. If this be not practicable, the evacuations ought to be
removed as soon as they are passed. It is a filthy and an idle habit
of a nurse-maid to allow a motion to remain for any length of time in
the room.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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