§ 60. When the second teeth have come, then the organism demands both
vegetable and animal food. Too much meat is, doubtless, harmful. But it
is an error to suppose that man was intended to eat vegetables alone,
and that, as some have said, the adoption of animal food is a sign of
his degeneracy.
The Hindoos, who live principally on a vegetable diet, are not at all,
as has been asserted, a mild and gentle race. A glance into their
stories, especially their erotic poetry, proves them to be quite as
passionate as any other people.
§ 61. Man is an omnivorous being. Children have, therefore, a natural
desire to taste of every thing. With them, eating and drinking have
still a poetic side, and there is a pleasure in them which is not wholly
the mere pleasure of taste. Their proclivity to taste of every thing
should not, therefore, be harshly censured, unless it is associated with
disobedience, or pursued in a clandestine manner, or when it betrays
cunning and greediness.
§ 62. Children need much sleep, because they are growing and changing so
fast. In later years, waking and sleeping must be regulated, and yet not
too exactly.
§ 63. The clothing of children should follow the form of the body, and
should be large enough to give them free room for the unfettered
movement of every limb in play.
The Germans do more rationally for children in the matter of sleep and
of dress than in that of food, which they often make too rich, and
accompany with coffee, tea, etc. The clothing should be not only
suitable in shape and size, it must also be made of simple and
inexpensive material, so that the child may not be hampered in his play
by the constant anxiety that a spot or a rent may cause fault to be
found with him. If we foster in the child's mind too much thought about
his clothes, we tend to produce either a narrow-mindedness, which treats
affairs of the moment with too much respect and concerns itself with
little things, or an empty vanity. Vanity is often produced by dressing
children in a manner that attracts attention. (No one can fail to remark
the peculiar healthful gayety of German children, and to contrast it
with the different appearance of American children. It is undoubtedly
true that the climate has much to do with this result, but it is also
true that we may learn much from that nation in our way of treating
children. Already we import their children's story-books, to the
infinite delight of the little ones, and copies of their children's
pictures are appropriated constantly by our children's magazines and
picture-books. It is to be greatly desired that we should adopt the very
sensible custom which prevails in Germany, of giving to each child its
own little bed to sleep in, no matter how many may be required; and, in
general, we shall not go far astray if we follow the Germans in their
treatment of their happy children.)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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