The Physical Training of ChildrenChavasse, Pye Henry
Science
The Physical Training of Children
Chavasse, Pye Henry
Child care; Children -- Health and hygiene
Do not on any account allow him to sit any length of time at a table,
amusing himself with books, etc.; let him be acting and stirring, that
his blood may freely circulate as it ought to do, and that his muscles
may be well developed. I would rather see him actively engaged in
mischief, than sitting still, doing nothing. He ought to be put on the
carpet, and should then be tumbled and rolled about, to make the blood
bound merrily through the vessels, to stir up the liver, to promote
digestion, and to open the bowels. The misfortune of it is, the present
race of nurses are so stuck out with crinoline, that they are not able
to stoop properly, and thus to have a good game at romps with their
little charges.
176. _Supposing it to be winter, and the weather to be very cold, would
you still send a child out?_
Decidedly, provided he be well wrapped up. The cold will brace and
strengthen him. Cold weather is the finest tonic in the world.
In frosty weather, the roads being slippery, when you send him out to
walk, put a pair of large, old woolen stockings _over_ his boots or
shoes. This will not only keep his feet and his legs warm, but it will
prevent him from falling down and hurting himself. While thus equipped,
he may even walk on a slide of ice without falling down.
A child, in the winter time, requires, to keep him warm, plenty of
flannel and plenty of food, plenty of fresh and genuine milk, and plenty
of water in his tub to wash him in a morning, plenty of exercise and
plenty of play, and then he may brave the frosty air. It is the coddled,
the half-washed, and the half-starved child (half-washed and
half-starved from either the mother’s ignorance or from the mother’s
timidity), that is the chilly starveling,—catching cold at every breath
of wind, and every time he either walks or is carried out,—a puny,
skinny, scraggy, scare-crow, more dead than alive, and more fit for his
grave than for the rough world he will have to struggle in!
AMUSEMENTS.
177. _Have you any remarks to make on the amusements of a child?_
Let the amusements of a child be as much as possible out of doors; let
him spend the greater part of every day in the open air; let him exert
himself as much as he pleases, his feelings will tell him when to rest
and when to begin again; let him be what nature intended him to be—a
happy, laughing, joyous child. Do not let him be always poring over
books.
“Books! ’tis a dull and endless strife,
Come, hear the woodland linnet!
How sweet his music! On my life
There’s more of wisdom in it.
And hark! how blithe the throstle sings!
He, too, is no mean preacher:
Come forth into the light of things,—
Let Nature be your teacher.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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