The advice offered in this chapter is not mere theory. It has been successfully used by many parents in the management of their nervous children, and while all principles of child culture must be carefully wrought out and made applicable to the particular child in question, nevertheless, the methods of repeated and firm discipline herein set forth will enable you to take many a child who has been born into this world almost neurologically bankrupt, and, by this training and discipline, enable him in adult life to draw such dividends of self-control and self-mastery as will far exceed the outward results obtained in the case of many children who are born with sound nervous systems, but who were early spoiled and allowed to grow up without that discipline which is so essential to later self-control and dignity of character. CHAPTER XXXI NERVOUS DISEASES In this chapter we shall consider a number of the more common diseases which are associated with the nervous system of the child. Some of these so-called nervous diseases are hereditary or congenital, while others are the result of infection and environment. SLEEPLESSNESS--INSOMNIA There are many conditions which cause sleeplessness or insomnia in a child aside from disturbance of the mental state or nervous system. For instance, late romping, too hearty and too late a dinner, lack of outdoor life during the day, illy ventilated sleeping rooms, too much bedding, too little bedding which causes cold extremities, too much sleep during the day, too much excitement (movies or receptions), intestinal indigestion which is associated with accumulation of gas, and constipation--any or all of these are causes of sleeplessness. Some peculiarly nervous children--those with an hereditary strain of nervousness--are easily upset or disturbed by any of the conditions above mentioned. The treatment of insomnia consists, first, in finding the cause and removing it. Children with a nervous tendency should be let alone as nearly as possible, and just allowed to grow up as the little lambs and calves grow up. They should be fed, watered, kept clean and dry, and allowed to live their lives undisturbed and without excitement.